Coastal Management 

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  • Coastal Management
    • Soft Engineering
      • Beach Replenishment
        • Sand is brought in to build up the beach either from further along the coast or from offshore
        • Looks natural and provides a beach to protect the coast and for visitors to enjoy
        • Sea will continue to erode the beach so replenishment has to be repeated every few years
      • Dune Management
        • Sand dunes provide good natural protection for the coast
        • Dunes may be damaged by storms or by visitors walking through them to get to the beach
        • Dune management includes planting marram grass to stabilise the sand or fill gaps and by making wooden boardwalks for use as footpaths to reduce visitor impact
    • Hard Engineering
      • Groynes
        • Groynes are built across beaches to stop the sand being washed away by longshore drift
        • Beach material builds up on one side of the groyne. Trapping the material like this = problems elsewhere as it stops material moving down coast where, e.g. it may be building up/protecting base of cliff
        • New groynes are expensive and need to be maintained to stop the wood from rotting
      • Sea Walls
        • Most effective method of halting sea erosion
        • Most expensive - cost about £500,000 per metre to build
        • Made of concrete and are curved to deflect power of waves; but sea can undermine them if beach material in front of them is not maintained
        • Sea walls may be unsightly and can also restrict access to beach
      • Revetments
        • Sloping wooden fences with an open structure of planks to break the force of waves and trap beach material behind them, protecting base of cliffs
        • Cheaper, but not as effective as sea walls
      • Gabions
        • Less expensive than sea wall or a revetment
        • Cages of boulders built up at the foot of a cliff or on a sea wall
      • Rip Rap or Rock Armour
        • Cheapest method but still expensive
        • Entails placing piles of large boulders on a beach to protect the cliffs from the full force of the sea
      • Off-shore Breakwater
        • Built on the sea bed or a short distance from the coast and they are usually made of rock or concrete
        • Are effective because the waves break on the barrier before reaching the coast. This reduces wave energy and allows a beach to build up = protects cliffs
        • Very expensive to build

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