COASTAL MANAGEMENT
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Picture description with a ruled line.
Description
Groynes
A barrier, normally made of either wood
or concrete is placed at right-angles to the
cliff.
Sea wall
This is built on the cliff face to protect the
cliff from erosion. It is made of concrete.
Rock armour
Large boulders are piled up on the beach.
Beach replenishment
This amount of sand on the beach is
increased through the use of heavy
machinery such as dump trucks to move
sand from inland to the beach.
No Active Intervention
This is when the decision is made to not to
protect the cliffs from erosion and it leads
to any land and property above collapsing
into the sea. Often people aren’t
compensated.
Costs
These can make it difficult to
do activities on the beach as
they split it into smaller
sections. Because they trap
sand it means that no sand
moves further down the coast
so other places get eroded
more. They can also be costly
to build and maintain.
It is ugly and it prevents birds
from nesting in the cliff face. It
costs a lot of money to build
and erosion still happens at
either end of the wall.
They restrict the amount of
beach available for people to
use. Can be expensive to buy
the rocks and transport them
to the coast.
It will need constant
maintenance as the sea will
continue to take the new sand
away.
People’s property, (farmland,
houses, businesses), will be
sacrificed to the sea. Often the
owners also have to pay for the
debris to be taken away!
Benefits
They effectively stop the
movement of beach material
by longshore drift, so when the
waves hit the beach some of
the energy and speed is lost
and less erosion happens.
It lasts a long time and is very
good at stopping erosion of the
cliff. Quite often there is a
walkway built along the wall
which encourages tourism.
They absorb the power of the
waves before they hit the cliff.
Some wildlife can still survive in
the gaps between the rocks.
This is a cheaper option than
some of the others. It ensures
that the beach is kept which
will attract tourists.
The local council does not have
to pay out money for defences so
this money can be spent on
other things such as providing
good schools and hospitals.
There is no interference with
natural coastal processes.