Coasts 1 - Planning

Question 1

Name the stretch of coastline we studied

Answer 1

Start Bay

Question 2

Which of the following settlements is not on the coast

Slapton, Torcross, Beesands, North Hallsands

Answer 2

Slapton - Slapton is a village 1/2 mile inland.

Question 3

What was the name of the road than ran along Slapton Sands?

Answer 3

The A379

Question 4

Explain one reason we chose to study the Start Bay coastline

Answer 4

There are a range of different techniques used to manage erosion and flooding along a relatively small area, so it’s easy to investigate the contrasting impacts of coastal defences on people and communities

Question 5

Arrange these coastal settlements from south to north

Torcross, North Hallsands, Sunnydale, Beesands

Answer 5

North Hallsands is furthest south, then Beesands, then Sunnydale with Torcross furthest north

Question 6

What was out coast enquiry question?

Answer 6

Do the benefits of coastal management will outweigh the costs within Start Bay?

Question 7

Suggest two factors we considered when choosing the fieldwork locations?

Answer 7

Accessibility - all the sites were easily accessible from the coastal path and were close enough together to be covered in a day

Start Bay is an area that has suffered from the impact of severe storms in the past. Therefore it’s a good place to investigate the benefits of coastal defences.

Question 8

Why was hard engineering deemed inappropriate along Slapton Sands?

Answer 8

Because of the presence of the Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve which includes the shingle ridge (bar) and lagoon behind.

Question 9

Which wind direction most often results in destructive waves forming in Start Bay

Answer 9

East (i.e. winds that blow from the east to the west)

Question 10

What process moves material from south to north along the beaches of Start Bay?

Answer 10

Longshore drift.

Question 11

Why is climate change likely to increase the need for coastal management in the future?

Answer 11

Sea levels are likely to rise and storms are likely to become more severe and more frequent, leading to more destructive waves removing beach material.

Question 12

What physical geographical processes and concepts relate to our investigation?

Answer 12

Longshore drift
Sea level rise
Marine transgression
Sediment cells
Erosion
Wave refraction
Fetch

Question 13

What coastal management concepts relate to our investigation?

Answer 13

Cost-benefit analysis

Hold the line/managed retreat/do nothing.

Question 14

Tell me an alternative enquiry question that might be appropriate to investigate at the coastline

Answer 14

Your own answer here!

You could say:
How does beach sediment change from north to south along x beach?
How and why is coastal erosion presenting a greater problem in some locations along Start Bay than others?

Question 15

How did we use newspaper articles as a source of secondary data in planning our investigation?

Answer 15

The newspaper articles helped us see that coastal erosion and flooding were issues that needed to be managed along Start Bay as settlements such as Torcross and Hallsands had been affected in the past.

Knowing this helped us come up with a suitable enquiry question / hypothesis to focus on.

Question 16

How did we use a map as source of secondary data when planning our investigation?

Answer 16

The Ordnance Survey map of Start Bay helped us by:

Showing that we could access virtually the whole coastline from the south-west coastal path. This gave us freedom when choosing sites to collect data.

Making it clear that all the significant settlements (e.g. Torcross and Beesands) were in the south of the bay so therefore it made sense to collect most of our data from the south rather than the north of the bay.

Helping us see where various see defences were built so we knew where to collect our data.

Helped us make sense of how Start Point caused wave refraction

Question 17

What other secondary data might have been useful to have when planning your investigation

Answer 17

A shoreline management plan (SMP) showing the approach to coastal management in different locations along Start Bay, i.e. where ‘hold the line’, ‘do nothing’ or ‘managed realignment’ was being used.

Question 18

What does a rose diagram show us?

Answer 18

Prevailing wind direction
Mainly from the South West
On a stormy way - from the North East

Question 19

What caused Slapton Sands to form in the first place?

Answer 19

Marine transgression / sea-level rise -

4,000 years ago

Question 20

What is the most important process operating on Slapton Sands today?

Answer 20

Probably longshore drift (from South to North)

Question 21

How do we know storms caused problems in 2017

Answer 21

Photos of the A379 show the road destroyed by strong waves.

It’s been rebuilt since…

Question 22

What were our secondary data sources

Answer 22

iGeology
OS Map
Rose diagram
Nature Reserve Map
Environmental Agency Website