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6. What is rock armour?

  • Boulders that are piled up along the coast.
  • A wall of wire cages filled with rocks, usually built at the foot of the cliff.
  • A wall made out of hard materials such as concrete that reflects waves back to the sea.
  • Wooden or stone fences that are built at right angles to the coast. They trap material transported by longshore drift.

7. What are the costs of groynes?

  • Ugly to look at. The cages can corrode over time.
  • They starve beaches further down the coast of sand, making them narrower. Narrow beached don't protect the coast from erosion very well.
  • They create strong backwash which erodes under the wall. Expensive to build and maintain.
  • Boulders can be moved by strong waves so the need to be replaced.

8. What is a benefit of sea walls?

  • Create a wider beach.
  • Prevents erosion of the coast. It also acts as a barrier to protect against flooding.
  • Creates a strong backwash and erodes under the wall.

9. What are gabions?

  • A wall of wire cages filled with rocks, usually built at the foot of the cliff.
  • Wooden or stone fences that are built at right angles to the coast. They trap material transported by longshore drift.
  • Boulders that are piled up along the coast.
  • A wall made out of hard materials such as concrete that reflects waves back to the sea.

10. What are the costs for sea walls?

  • Boulders can be moved by strong waves so the need to be replaced.
  • They create strong backwash which erodes under the wall. Expensive to build and maintain.
  • Ugly to look at. The cages can corrode over time.
  • They starve beaches further down the coast of sand, making them narrower. Narrow beached don't protect the coast from erosion very well.

11. What are the benefits of beach nourishment and reprofiling?

  • Creates wider beaches which slow the waves down. This gives greater protection from flooding and erosion.
  • Sustainable and cheap.
  • Organisms can be killed.

12. What are the costs of rock armour?

  • Boulders can be moved by strong waves so the need to be replaced.
  • They starve beaches further down the coast of sand, making them narrower. Narrow beached don't protect the coast from erosion very well.
  • Ugly to look at. The cages can corrode over time.
  • They create strong backwash which erodes under the wall. Expensive to build and maintain.

13. What are the benefits of rock armour?

  • Absorbs wave energy and reduces erosion and flooding. It's fairly cheap defence.
  • Creates a barrier.

14. What are groynes?

  • A wall made out of hard materials such as concrete that reflects waves back to the sea.
  • Wooden or stone fences that are built at right angles to the coast. They trap material transported by longshore drift.
  • Boulders that are piled up along the coast.
  • A wall of wire cages filled with rocks, usually built at the foot of the cliff.

15. What is soft engineering?

  • Schemes set up using knowledge of the sea and its processes to reduce the effects of flooding and erosion
  • Man-made structures built to control the flow of the sea and reduce flooding and erosion.

16. What are the costs of dune regeneration?

  • The protection is limited to a small area. It is very expensive.
  • Taking material from the seabed can kill organisms like sponges and corals. It's very expensive and it has be constantly maintained.

17. What is a sea wall?

  • A wall made out of hard materials such as concrete that reflects waves back to the sea.
  • A wall of wire cages filled with rocks, usually built at the foot of the cliff.
  • Boulders that are piled up along the coast.
  • Wooden or stone fences that are built at right angles to the coast. They trap material transported by longshore drift.

18. What is a benefit of using gabions.

  • They slow waves.
  • They absorb wave energy and therefore help to reduce erosion. They are also cheap and easy to build.
  • Can corrode over time.
  • Can be moved around.

19. What is beach nourishment and reprofiling?

  • Sand and shingle from elsewhere (e.g from the seabed or from lower down the beach), is added to the upper parts of the beach.
  • Creating or restoring sand dunes by nourishment, or planting vegetation to stabilise the sand.