Geography Coasts Case Studies

Holderness coast - what is its erosion rate, how high are the waves it gets, how many properties is it projected to lose

shoreline retreats 1.7m a year on average, it gets waves up to 4m high, projected to lose 237 properties within the next 100 years.

also cliff collapses feed 2 million tonnes of sediment, which down drift to spurn head which grows 10cm per year

Managed realignment at Sommerset —abandoning defences - how much money does it save

17m using soft defences instead, realignment created 150 ha of new salt marsh

how many geology visits p/y does flamborough head have, from its 30m high cliffs which retreat yearly by 5cm, and how many species are there here

5,000, however, there is 1 cliff collapse yearly, closing paths for weeks, however, civil-engineering anchors has reduced this by half , 120 different species

Spurn head (5.5km in length) is home to how many overwintering waders, and how many times has it been breached by storms (grows 10cm yearly)

40,000, been breached 5 times, however, a realignment project increased bird counts by 20%

The lagoon behind spurn head - how many fish species does it shelter, and how much does it boost local angling

20 specieis, and boosts angling by 30%

Tombolo - Chesil beach, 29km long. How many vehicles use it per day, what threatens to breach it, and how many cm has it lost to crest height due to storms

10,000 vehicles use it daily, 3.2mm/y rising sea level threatens to breach it, lost 30cm in crest height due to storms, however, beach nourishment of 200,000m3 /y tries to maintain the crest, and sometimes increases its height by 20cm

Studland Bay, how much dune progradation does it have, how high are the ridges. how deep are its blowouts. how much vegetation is lost due to footpath erosion, and how much has fencing and restoration reduced sand loss.

2m/y, ridges of 12m. features blowouts 3m deep, however signage has rduced blowout expansion 50%. 10% annually. sand loss reduced 70%, 5cm erosion rates p/y from visitors.

The use of off-road on sand dunes causes compaction of the sand, which reduces its ability to support vegetation, Off-road vehicles have been shown to compact sand by as much as 40-50% in some areas, reducing vegetation cover by up to 60%, some vehicle use is however essential to management. Development along the Studland Bay coast has led to the loss of approximately 20% of natural dune habitat over the past few decades, however better planning is now done. Plastic pollution has been found to affect up to 50% of the plant species growing on dunes in popular tourist areas like Studland Bay

Swanage bay - how much does the clay get eroded compard to the chalk. How many tourists use the beach, and how much revenue does it generate. Sediment from slumping is dredged, but it also reduces the cost of beach nourishment, how much does it reduce the costs by?

the clay erodes at 0.4m/y, but the resistant chalk retreats at just 0.01m/y. 50,000 tourists use it, generating £8 million in revenue. 30% lower cost, however dredging increases water turbidity

Dorset spends how much on rock armour (lifespan of 50y), and how much of the wave energy does it absorb. what % of visitors find the granite armour unattractive, how many species does it provide habitats for

cost £1 million, and ongoing maintenance is 200k yearly. but stops 60% of wave energy. 40% of visitors find it unattractive, but they provide habitats for 15 species, however it does replace other intertidal zones. trialing ‘green rock’ approached - rocks which blend in better to the surroundings, to blend structures with the environment, however it leads to increased erosion downdrift, create physical barriers to fish movements

Dorset spent how much on a seawall, and how much £ in assets does it protect. what is the erosion rate behind the wall compared to nearby areas

the 4m high seawall cost £3m. erosion rate behind wall is 1cm/y, compared to 40cm nearby, but it does lead to more scouring underneath

Sundarbans is the worlds biggest mangrove forest - how much do its root structures and vegetation dissipate wave energy (reduce wave heights)? How much afforestation has there been, however, how much km2 has been lost yearly due to shrimp farming. there is commmunity led planting to combat this - how much

92%. afforestation of 300,000ha has helped stabilise coastlines. 1500km2 (shrimp ponds here also absorb and retain 1/5 of the carbon that mangroves do). 300h/a per year, 85% survival rate of trees.

Mississippi river estuary is the largest in North America,and how many tonnes worth of fish in fisheries does it support

supports fisheries producing 150,000 tonnes yearly

sognefjord - longest and deepest fjord in Norway, how long is it, how many coral species does it support. how many blowholes/geos along the fjord arms

over 200km long, oxygen rich water supports 50+ coral species. 30 blowholes/geos, spraying water up to 10m, attracts 1m tourists annually, supports 5k bird species, however the spray erodes infastructure, however this has been mitigated by strategic drainage systems

Dalmatian coastline - Croatia, how many islands does it involve

1200 islands, boosts tourism by over £10B annually

Wadden Sea is the worlds largest tidal flat, and contains extensive amounts of salt marshes, 3,000km/10000km -how many birds does it host, how much tourism money does it bring in, how many jobs, how much carbon does it sequester annually,

10 million birds, $6 billion, 80k jobs, and in some regions, contributes 30% of GDP tourism does, 20,000 tonnes anually, shells contribute a significant portion of 92k tonnes carbon stock

How does Wadden Sea change during storms?

several metres eroded - very convex, after 1999 big storm it took years to fully recover, lost 5% of area in 2013

How dos Wadden Sea change seasonally

area exposed by tidal flats can vary by 100km during seasons, more growth of seagrass and algae in summer,

How does Wadden Sea change long-term

Records show that wadden sea has lost 300km in tidal flats in 2,000 years, sea level risen by 15cm in past century, leading to inundation of some parts of the tidal flat - loss of key feeding grounds, some areas have gained land, some areas have lost it

Bay of Fundy tidal range, how many shorebirds does the mudflat system house, what is the coastal erosion rate. what is its tidal energy potential, how much does the tidal station there produce from its 1,000 tonne turbine, which cost £30 million to create, and how many homes does it power, and what are some drawbacks

houses 2m birds, erosion rate of 1m yearly, flooding infastructure causing yearly, however soft protection schemes reduces this noticably. 2GW, Tidal Station produces 20 MW, powering 10,000 homes. early turbines caused 5% of fish to die, however they were redesigned to cut it down to 1%, many delays in harnessing more power

237 properties in 100 years, how is it managing this? is it successful? what can it do better?

In mappleton, 2 groynes were added at the cost of £2 million, in 1991, this led to erosion rates falling from 2m to 0.2m /y, but starves sediment from Cowden, they are also ugly, but the beaches are wider, only a small village mappleton is