Start Bay- physical Study

Question 1

start bay investigation:

Answer 1

To investigate the coastal processes in Start Bay and the consequences for management.

Question 2

start bay background:

Answer 2

Start Bay is located in SW England in Devon. It is a stretch of coastline prone to the process of Longshore drift due to wave refraction around Start Point Headland. Erosion (attrition) is also taking place.

Question 3

Beach cross section at Torcross and Strete gate:

Answer 3

Equipment: Ranging pole, clinometer x2 and a 25m tape measure

Methodology: measure each facet starting at the front of the beach (by the sea) to the back of the beach

What we found: the beach was indeed significantly wider at Strete Gate than at Torcross indicating that Longshore drift was moving sediment in a south to north direction.

Question 4

fieldsketch:

Equipment
methodology
what we found
presentation

Answer 4

Equipment: pencil, clipboard, A4 paper.
Methodology: draw a full page field sketch, including labels looking at what you are investigating. Include a title, e.g.
Hard Engineering on Torcross beach
What we found: a fieldsketch is a simple field work method that helps us to remember what we saw.
Presentation
Locate beach cross-sections using Excel spreadsheet

Question 5

pebble sampling:

Equipment
methodology
what we found
presentation

Answer 5

Equipment: Pebble class diagram, ruler

Methodology: grab sample at the sea shore. 30 pebbles randomly picked from the sample. One person to classify pebble class other to measure using a ruler.

What we found
Pebbles were much smaller & more rounded at Strete Gate. Evidence for Longshore drift & attrition

Presentation
Pebble dispersion graph

Question 6

Sea defence evaluation:

Equipment
methodology
what we found
presentation

Answer 6

Equipment
Bi-polar recording sheet

Methodology: Bi-polar evaluation of the sea defences using 6 criteria on a
-2 to +2 scale. Total score given.

What we found
Hard Sea defences found in front of high value land use.

Presentation
Located radar graphs

Question 7

Cost-Benefit analysis:

Equipment
methodology
what we found
presentation

Answer 7

Equipment: land use tally chart

Methodology: Land use tallied and values of different and overall value calculated.

What we found
Cost-benefit analysis score over 8 which means that they would be considered value for money to build

Presentation
Data table

Question 8

Start Bay conclusions:

processes
management

Answer 8

Processes
We found that longshore drift was operating in a northerly direction in Start bay resulting in a wider beach at the northern end (Strete Gate) and a narrower beach at Torcross. Pebbles were also smaller & rounded at Strete Gate which again points to longshore drift in operation working with attrition.

Management
At least three Hard management strategies were in operation. The cost-benefit analysis showed that they represented value for money in protecting this section of coast from erosion.

Question 9

Reflection:
www
ebi

Answer 9

EBI:
• Visited sites at different states of tide, different seasons, different weather
• Had more accurate equipment. Trundle wheel to measure length of sea defences
• Visited more sites to carry out beach profiles & pebble sampling
• Increased pebble sample size
• Taken a class average sea defence evaluation score

WWW: our survey was quick, cheap and simple to complete. It did not require specialist equipment.