Hurst castle spit

Question 1

what was the hypothesis?

Answer 1

pebbles become larger towards the back of the beach

Question 2

how was the hypothesis relevant?

Answer 2

it’s part of the coastal processes topic

Question 3

how was the hypothesis doable?

Answer 3

we have all the equipment, sufficient time and enough people

Question 4

what was the underpinning theory?

Answer 4

constructive waves deposit material onto beaches, strong swash puts larger material to the back of the beach, percolation of backwash reduces its energy making it incapable of removing the larger pebbles

Question 5

where is it located?

Answer 5

hampshire

Question 6

why was this location chosen?

Answer 6

-it’s relatively cheap and accessible
-no permission was needed
-it was safe as it was done in summer where the waves are smaller

Question 7

what are some health and safety risks for the chosen location?

Answer 7

-drowning
-ankle injury, due to loose pebbles

Question 8

how was the health and safety risk of drowning avoided?

Answer 8

-avoid getting two close to the waves
-walk in pairs/groups

Question 9

how was the health and safety risk of an ankle injury reduced?

Answer 9

-no running
-look where you are walking

Question 10

describe the method used

Answer 10

(1) place pole at every change of slope, starting at waters edge
(2) near each poles pick 11 pebbles randomly and order them by size
(3) measure the pebble in mm
(4) write results in a table
(5) repeat the process every change of slope
(6) repeat until the top of the beach is reached

Question 11

why did we use this method?

Answer 11

-change of slope may indicate a change of pebbles
-removing largest/smallest pebbles avoids anomalies

Question 12

what sampling did we use?

Answer 12

stratified sampling

Question 13

why did we use stratified sampling?

Answer 13

-it’s better than random sampling as there’s always an element of bias
-systematic sampling would not have given use enough data as the beach isn’t very deep
-stratified allowed us to collect pebbles at each change of slope and take enough data

Question 14

what does our data show overall?

Answer 14

the data doesn’t really support the hypothesis as the pebbles stay mostly the same size

Question 15

what were the problems with the method?

Answer 15

-different people measured the size of the pebbles
-we used a ruler
-we judged where the change of slope was

Question 16

what are some things we could do to improve the method?

Answer 16

-ensure the same people are measuring each pebble
-use callipers to measure pebbles
-use a map with contour lines to judge change in slope

Question 17

what were the problems with the sampling method?

Answer 17

we didn’t use the same method of sampling to select the pebbles

Question 18

what are some things that we can do to improve the sampling method?

Answer 18

use the same sampling method for each site

Question 19

what were some problems with the data we collected?

Answer 19

-we only took data for one transect
-only measured transect once
-we only went during summer

Question 20

what’s some other useful data that we could have used?

Answer 20

-collect more that one transect
-go back to the beach at different times of day
-use secondary sources e.g. OS maps