Exercise 7.4: Managing the coastal environment

1. Coastal management is when trying to find ways that we can protect our environment. 
2. 
Construction of protective barriers

·         Beach Nourishment

·         Coastal Dune Preservation

3.   3. 

Brief description of management strategy	Advantages	Disadvantages
Sea Walls and Groynes	Stops erosion and protects many beach front properties. Makes the beaches wider by catching the sands.	Is making the beach more ‘artificial’, more man made and is taking away the beauty of the beach.
The moving of sand by humans	Clearing makes room for other things.	Very expensive and may be endangering many animals and plants.
Preservation of coastal dunes	Helps to stop erosion and to make the beach areas more stable.	Less space for people to live along the coastline and a large possibility of introduced species endangering other animals and their habitats.

4. 4.  For coastal management  to work, large amounts of attention needs to be paid to the environment to ensure that the environment is at the constant best that it can be. 
5. 5. 

Description of problem	Proposed management solution/s
Fishermen from a coastal village anchor their boats in a small river. Recently the river mouth has been eroded by the ocean and the river entrance is no longer safe for ships for use.	Construction of protective barriers and walls. -          Breakwaters.
A tourist development has been built behind a well-preserved sand dune system. Tourists wanting to access the beach are trampling and destroying fragile dune vegetation.	Coastal dune Preservation -          Limiting new developments.
Developments along the coast have changed the shape of a safe swimming beach popular with families. It is often dangerous to swim. Hotel owners are demanding that the beach be restored to how it was before the developments.	Beach Nourishment
Storm waves frequently threaten to destroy property along the fore dune of a beach.	Construction of protective barrier and walls.

Exercise 7.3 Geographical processes shaping the coastal environment

1. Hydraulic action, Corrosion and corrasion.
2. Wave refraction causes the wave energy to be concentrated in particular areas and less intense in others. 
3. The waves are refracted and kinetic energy is formed.

4. Coasts around the headlands. 

5. 

Hydraulic Action: Waves crash against a headland. Waves enter cracks in the rock and air is compressed into the crack by the force of the water being pushed by the wave. As the air is compressed it acts to erode rock. Blow holes are a common feature formed by hydraulic action.

Corrasion:  Waves crash over rock shelves. The wave action moves rock and other material across the rock shelf and wears away the rock in an abrasive fashion. 

Corrosion:  Waves break the rocks. When it dries, the salt in the sea water crystallises and acts on the minerals in the rock to erode materials.

6. During severe storms beaches can lose large quantities of sand through erosion by waves. The sand that is deposited offshore, forming a sand bar off the beach where it helps to limit the impact of the erosive waves on the coast.

7. Wind, waves and ocean currents.

8. Along the coastline and at beaches.

9. Coastal dunes are formed by the action of the wind. Once sand is deposited on the beach it is then subject to aeolin (wind) transportation. The wind blows the sand landward, which is trapped by low-lying vegetation like coastal spinifex. The foredune is a store of sand. It may be eroded away, or it may continue to increase in size depending on wave and wind action.

 10. When waves travel at a certain angle, long shore drift occurs. The water then gets transported along the coast, along with all of the litter that is on the ground at the beaches.

11. 

Blow holes: As waves crash into the headland, water is forced into cracks causing erosion.

Tombolos: Due to shallow water, water refracts and bends causing erosion. This erosion stays at a constant force causing areas of land to stick out.

Sea stacks: When sea gradually erodes soft limestone cliffs. 

Offshore sand bars:When storms occur near the coast, loads of sand is taken out to sea causing large masses of sand called sand bars.

12. They provide a buffer zone for the fragile dune vegetation located on the hind dunes.

13. 

a. The great road, Victoria.

b. They are very rare, so are a very profitable tourist attraction.

c. Wave erosion on the coastal headlands.

d. The London bridge was a natural bridge that linked the mainland to offshore rock.

e. I believe that it is just a natural process and that there could not have been anything done to stop it without hindering the environment.

14. 

Good morning everyone! I am Oliver Rich and welcome to Port Campbell national park!! Now you can all see the Twelve Apostles behind me and today I am here to talk to you about them. Now the Twelve Apostles were created over 20 million years ago, and are known as sea stacks.They were created when parts of sand and rock slowly erode away certain spots, leaving these 12 to stand out by themselves. Now eventually all of the 12 Apostles will erode away and collapse, making this destination very unique, and only lasting for who knows how long. 

15. 

The local council has decided to buy back residential property located on a headland and a neighbouring fore dune which is subject to erosion. The residents of these areas are appalled by this and want to continue to enjoy the lifestyle and views they can now. Ms Kerry Woods aged 89 has spoken about this and has displayed her views. 'I am 89 years of age and live alone, I have no need for the nice views and the relaxed lifestyle, I say that if the council will pay me a high enough profit for my house I will move, I'm not too picky'. A young couple who have recently moved into this area and have shown their views too. 'We have only just moved here, and we think that the area is a lovely place for starting a family, and the view is fabulous! We knew that erosion was a problem and are always watching out, but really the council has no right to do that! 

This is a very topical issue that has people everywhere arguing, tell us what you think at www.gnp.com.au

 

The Science of Big Waves

Design a blog post on your blog of a big wave site from different parts of the world. Be sure to describe the geography and the topography of the ocean floor in these areas and how this helps create these massive waves. check out http://www.extremehorizon.com/surf-shop/big_waves.html for big waves around the world.






Pre-viewing:

1. Where do ocean waves come from? What gets them started? The waves come from thousands of miles off the coast created by the wind. The wind and energy along with the speed and size. 
2. What do you think a surfer should know about waves before they try and ride a wave while surfing? I think that a surfer should know the speed and strength of certain waves, and obviously if they are safe enough to ride.

Question for the Video:

1. Observe all the waves that you see and describe how they form and break. Use as many words found in the segment for you descriptions. Waves form when the wind increases as does the speed. When the energy of a wave hits the low land the wave cycles are compressed and it creates a long wavelength. 
2. Describe how waves are formed, how they originate, and how they are measured? Waves are formed depending on the climate in the impact zone thousands of miles out to sea. They are measured in wave height and strength. 
3. What is a maverick wave and what is special about the way it is formed? A wave which crashes on the coast in  California in Maverick. There are many rocks near the beaches so it creates very big waves. 
4. How is energy stored and transferred during wave? When the wind speed and the duration increase, energy is stored under the water chain in circular cycles. This then turns into kinetic energy creating large waves.
5. List any kind of advice given by the surfers about how to survive these “big waves.” I would just make sure that they know what they are getting themselves into. They should study the wave before hand so that they know the possible dangers and so that they are safe.