Jurassic Coast - Studland and Swanage Fieldwork Conclusion & Evaluation

Conclusion:

For our investigation we wanted to assess the impact of management on Studland sand dunes. Overall the impact of management at Studland sand dunes. Overall the impact of management at Studland dunes was successful. This is because there was little evidence of major erosion. Different management techniques have helped to protect the sand dunes from erosion. They have set out paths for the public to use to help prevent erosion. They also kept the public all in one place by putting the car park, toilets, cafe and shop all in one place. This was effective as then the public had all the facilities in one place so they didn't need to go wandering over the dunes causing more erosion, to use the different facilities. Protected areas were very effective management techniques as they were not exposed to public erosion as people were not allowed to walk on these parts of the dunes. Overall the management at Studland was effective as from our results we found out that the percentage vegetation cover on the dunes was relatively high meaning there had been little erosion, therefore proof that the management techniques at Studland have been successful and had a positive impact on the dunes.

For our investigation we also wanted to evaluate types of sea defences at Swanage and how effective they are at protecting the coast. Overall from our beach profiles we found that the sea defences were effective at protecting the coast. This is because they helped to prevent longshore drift. On the east side of the groynes there was less sediment showing that the groynes were effective at preventing longshore drift. Also where there was a sea wall it changed the cliff profile. Where there was no sea wall the cliff was steep. This shows the sea wall was effective at preventing erosion because where there was a sea wall it stopped erosion so the cliff profile was steep however where there was no sea wall the cliff was slumping because it was being eroded. To conclude, the defences at Swanage were effective in protecting the coast and the management at Studland had a positive impact on the dunes.

Evaluation:

Overall the investigation was successful however there were some aspects of the investigation that were less successful. For example with the Swanage data, although we got a lot of data for the research we did, we didn’t get a big enough range of data. The Studland investigation was successful because we had enough…