Minehead Physical

Question 1

Where is Minehead situated, and what kind of town is it?

Answer 1

Minehead is an estuarine town, situated on the estuary of the river Severn, south west of Bristol.

Question 2

What does Minehead’s location give it protection from?

Answer 2

Minehead being on a north facing coastline gives it protection from the south westerly prevailing winds to the UK.

Question 3

What is the tidal range in Minehead?

Answer 3

14 metres.

Question 4

What prompted Minehead to decide to protect their coastline?

Answer 4

A major storm in 1995 that majorly damaged the coast.

Question 5

What did Minehead do to determine whether the coastal defenses were worth it?

Answer 5

They did a cost-benefit analysis for the defenses.

Question 6

What was the result of the cost-benefit analysis?

Answer 6

They determined that the cost of £12.3 million was worth it over the potential risk of £21 million in damages if they didn’t.

Question 7

What is the phrase used to describe this choice of defending a coastline?

Answer 7

“Hold the line”

Question 8

What four coastal defenses have Minehead put in place along their coast?

Answer 8

Rock Armour
Rock Groynes
A Sea Wall
Beach Nourishment

Question 9

When did they put in the beach nourishment, and where did they get it from?

Answer 9

Sediment was used to nourish the beach in 1997, originating some from foreign imports, but also from dredged up sediment off the coast.

Question 10

What state do these defenses put the beach in?

Answer 10

A state of Dynamic Equilibrium

Question 11

Which was the most expensive coastal defense?

Answer 11

The sea wall.

Question 12

What is the sea wall partially made of and why?

Answer 12

Red sandstone from the headlands, because it looks more appealing than pure concrete.

Question 13

Why is the sea wall slightly concaved at the top?

Answer 13

In order to more efficiently transfer energy back towards the sea.

Question 14

Where is the rock armour situated, and what is its role?

Answer 14

The rock armour is situated infront of the sea wall, and is meant to absorb some of the energy heading towards the sea wall, as the rock armour is cheaper than the expensive sea wall.

Question 15

How many rock groynes are there on Minehead’s beach?

Answer 15

4 Groynes

Question 16

What is the role of the groynes?

Answer 16

To prevent longshore drift from occuring and trap sediment on the beach.

Question 17

What is the role of beach nourishment?

Answer 17

To partially lower the energy of the waves heading to the sea wall and rock armour, and also partially to make the beach look more appealing.

Question 18

What did we investigate first on the beach?

Answer 18

We investigated whether the groynes were working or not. (Whether they are trapping sediment)

Question 19

How did we go about investigating this?

Answer 19

We situated two poles, one at the top of the groyne, and one at the bottom east or west, and measured the hypotenuse, and the ascending angle towards the pole on top. We did this for both sides of the groyne, to compare how they did.

Question 20

What was the frequency of our investigation?

Answer 20

We measured between our three groups, 18 different points along the groyne, with 6 in each section (Upper, middle, lower).

Question 21

What type of sampling did we employ in this investigation and why?

Answer 21

We used stratified sampling, as we had a theory beforehand, and measured based on our prior knowlege, evenly between the lower, middle and upper sections of the groyne.

Question 22

How did we decide our locations for our sampling?

Answer 22

We decided to evenly measure between each section of the groyne to see the differences, and chose a groyne in the middle of the beach to ensure it was the average of all of them. The middle one was also the most accessable.

Question 23

What was the range in our investigation?

Answer 23

We got a range of 74cm from west to east, with the drop on the east side being on average 74cm greater.

Question 24

What was the conclusion from your data?

Answer 24

We concluded that since there was a noticable difference between east and west, with the sediment on the west being notiable higher than the east, that the groynes were working and effectively trapping sediment.

Question 25

What did we observe at the back of the beach, near the sea wall, and how is this possible?

Answer 25

We saw vegetation growing, which is possible due to the coastal defenses preventing water reaching there even at high tide, allowing plants to grow.