AQA Geography GCSE Fieldwork: Newton Beach CS

Title of physical fieldwork enquiry:

How successful is coastal management at Newton Beach?

Explain why your topic was suitable for geographical enquiry.

- The question/investigation was appropriate because they are clearly geographical, were small scale so data could be collected in one day.

Outline the geographical theory/concept underpinning the enquiry.

Physical - coastal management: The theory behind coastal management is that it can be used to protect human land-uses at the coast from coastal processes such as sea-level rise, flooding, erosion and longshore drift. Coastal management strategies can be hard engineering: artificially altering the coastline; or soft engineering: working with the natural coastline. The type of coastal management used depends on the process that is impacting the coast.

Outline appropriate sources of primary data which you collected.

Beach profiles and bipolar analysis of management strategies.

Outline appropriate sources of secondary data which you used.

Wind data for longshore drift, geology of the area to understand the need for management

Why was your chosen location appropriate for carrying out your fieldwork investigation?

• The location is an example of coastal management, it is small scale so data could be collected in one day and the investigation was generally low risk with the use of a risk assessment.

List some potential risks you faced and explain how you tried to reduce these risks. 

• Stayed in groups of 3 to reduce the risk of stranger danger and/or getting lost, wore sensible clothing e.g. walking shoes to reduce the risk of slips and trips

• We stayed 5m away from the sea at all times which reduced the risk of drowning

• Slipping on rocks. There were plenty on the beach, including the rock armour and groynes themselves. We wore sturdy footwear (e.g. walking boots) to reduce the risk. We also consciously tried not to step on rocks where possible. b) Drowning in the sea. We kept a close eye on the tide in case it began to come in. We stayed at least 5 metres from the water at all times. c) Extreme weather causing us to become sunburnt or unwell. We wore sun cream and sun hats. We drank plenty of water at regular intervals and spent time in the shade where possible.

Outline how you identified and selected appropriate data with respect to the aims of your investigation (with reference to your key question).

Beach profiles - can measure both sides of a groyne to assess if there is more sand on the windward side. If there is then we can assume coastal management has been successful as the groynes have built up the beach/buffer zone.

Bipolar analysis - scored sea wall, groynes and rock armour against different statements. The higher the score, the more successful the coastal management is.

How did you deploy different sampling methods to help measure and record data?

Beach profiles - systematic (every 2m) to get a full picture of the size and shape of the beach either side of the groynes.

Bipolar analysis - stratified to make sure we were evaluating coastal management strategies.

Describe your data collection methods.

Beach profiling - One person stood at the end of the groyne closest to the sea. A ranging pole was placed in the ground here. A distance of 2 metres was measured, moving up the groyne. A second ranging pole was placed in the ground at the 2 metre point and a clinometer was used to measure the gradient from ranging pole one to ranging pole two. This process was repeated every two metres, with the gradient being noted each time. 

Bipolar analysis - We sampled seven sites along the coastline, with a range of different land use values. At each site, we estimated the height of the sea defences. This height was then converted to a number between 1 and 5 to determine the likelihood of flooding. As an example, the number 5 was given to defences with a height of 0-2 metres. A number between 1 and 5 was also given to each site to represent flood severity. As an example, 5 was given to sites with the highest land values. The likelihood and severity values were then multiplied together. If likelihood and severity were both 5, then a flood risk score of 25 would be generated. This was the highest possible flood risk value, with 1 being the lowest.  

Explain how your methods ensured accurate and reliable data was collected.

• Beach profiles: Separating into groups to sample 5 different groynes to increase sample size and reliability.

• Same person used the same bit of equipment to ensure accuracy.

• Bipolar analysis: The same person scored the same statement on the survey to increase consistency and reduce bias.

Describe, explain and justify your presentation methods.

• Beach profiles - line graph using Excel. This was appropriate because:

  • It is visually effective as you can easily see the profile of the beach

  • Excel increased the accuracy of results by getting rid of human error

  • Anomalies were easily identifiable

• Bipolar analysis - Proportional circles using GIS (plotted onto a map). This was appropriate because:

  • It is visually effective and uses clear symbols: the larger the circle the greater the score and therefore the more effective the management scheme and vice versa

  • Allows us to show the location on the map so that we could compare data

  • Clear key so easy to read

Give examples of where you adapted your presentation methods.

• Beach profiles: Issues? The axis for the beach profiles were different for each side of the groyne so difficult to compare. 

• Improvement? Put data for both sides of the groyne on one graph to allow easier comparison and analysis

• Bipolar analysis: Issues? The key groups the bipolar scores as a range so we cannot match up exact scores to the location without looking back to the data table.

• Solutions - add overall scores onto the circles

Provide some description, analysis and explanation of your results.

• Beach Profiles - Greater volume of sediment on the windward side: 24m² more sediment on this side. Windward side had a steeper gradient due to the greater amount of sediment. Windward side had a 4m elevation increase whereas the other side had a 2.6m elevation increase. This shows that coastal management has been very successful as the groynes have successfully stopped sediment from being lost on Newton beach and so reduced erosion rates.

• Bipolar analysis - The overall bipolar score for the sea wall was 12, the rock armour was 11 and the groynes were 6. As all these numbers are positive, this shows that overall they are all effective in protecting the  coastline at least to some extent, however some are more successful than others across a variety of factors.

Outline your use of appropriate statistical techniques (only Beach Profiles).

• We calculated the mean average gradient on each of the slopes either side of the groyne. The mean average gradient on the windward side of the groyne was 6° whereas on the other side it was 3°. This suggests that coastal management has been very successful because the gradient is steeper on the windward side of the groyne due to the build up of sediment caused by successful coastal management.

Identify anomalies in your fieldwork data.

• Beach Profiles: Gradient of 2° on one section of the beach on the windward side of the groyne. This would have reduced the mean average gradient score on the windward side, however did not affect our results as the mean average of 6° was still high enough to suggest that coastal management has been very successful.

• The score for groynes was significantly lower than that of the sea wall and rock armour (50% lower than sea wall). This could be an anomalous result due to the subjective nature of the survey. Groynes were given a very low score of -3 for disturbing natural processes while rock armour scored +2, even though all hard engineering strategies arguably disrupt natural coastal processes.

Outline your evidenced conclusions with respect to the original aims of the enquiry.

• The results of our beach profile show that there was 24^m2 more sediment on the windward side of the groyne. Moreover, the windward side had a steeper average gradient of 6° compared to 3° on the other side. This was due to the greater build-up of sediment on the windward side which suggests coastal management has been very successful because groynes have successfully built up the beach. In addition to this, the windward side of the groyne had a 4m elevation increase whereas the other side had 2.6m elevation increase. This shows that the groynes have successfully stopped sediment from being lost on Newton beach and so reduced erosion rates.

• The results of our bipolar survey show that all of the strategies are effective to some extent at managing the coastline. The highest score was for the sea wall which had an overall score of +12. This answers our key question as these hard engineering techniques have been successful at protecting Newton to some extent as all 3 strategies had a positive total score. The lowest bipolar score was 6 and this was for the groynes. This actually suggests that coastal management has been less successful. However, this could be due to the fact that our bipolar score was made up across lots of different factors and although groynes scored highly on some e.g. a +2 for effective protection against erosion, it scored very poorly for others e.g. -3 for disturbing coastal processes, which is common for all hard engineering strategies. The survey is also extremely subjective which impacts its usefulness in answering the question. Overall, this shows the different strategies have varying success at Newton beach and that coastal management is only effective to some extent.

• In conclusion, our results prove that coastal management strategies have successfully reduced erosion rates by causing sediment build-up on beaches but in other areas they are not as effective, for example in disrupting natural coastal processes.

To what extent are the conclusions you have drawn reliable?

• We examined the profile of the beach at the groynes to see how effective they were. The results of our beach profile show that there was 24m² more sediment on the windward side of the groyne. Moreover, the windward side had a steeper average gradient of 6° compared to 3° on the other side. This was due to the greater build-up of sediment on the windward side which proves that coastal management has been very successful as the groynes have successfully built up the beach. These results help us to answer our key question reliably as we were separated into groups to sample 5 different groynes to increase reliability. To increase accuracy further, we made sure the same person used the same piece of equipment each time. However, we could question the accuracy of some of our results as human error could affect the recording of the gradient when reading the clinometer and, as we used systematic sampling, we might have missed some key gradient changes meaning our results may not be representative of the beach.

• We conducted a bipolar survey to assess the effectiveness of three coastal management strategies; sea, wall, rock armour and groynes. The overall bipolar score for the sea wall was 12, the rock armour was 11 and the groynes were 6. As all these numbers are positive, this shows that overall they are all effective in protecting the  coastline at least to some extent, however some are more successful than others across a variety of factors. However, you could argue that these results are not completely accurate as the survey was very subjective and was dependent upon the person rating the factors. We were also guessing for some of the factors e.g. when scoring the cost, as we did not know this information. These factors, therefore, reduce the reliability of our conclusions to a large extent.

• Overall, although we can come to conclusions using our results, you can argue that those conclusions are not 100% reliable, for example due to the subjective nature of the bipolar survey and potential for human error when measuring beach profiles. 

Identify some limitations of your data collection methods.

• Beach profiling - 

  • Faulty equipment/lack of equipment e.g. no tape measure

  • Human error – misread the clinometer reading/not writing down accurately

  • Systematic sampling

    • As a result, some of the measurements either side of the groynes could be inaccurate and therefore under/over estimate the success of the coastal management. However, as we measured both sides of 5 groynes, and then found the average, this is representative enough to remove anomalies.

• Bipolar survey - 

  • Subjective

  • Had to guess some answers e.g. cost of management strategy

  • Error in calculating the score

    • The scores for all 3 management strategies could be inaccurate as they were completely subjective which could over/underestimate the overall effectiveness of coastal management. However, we made sure that one person in each group ranked the same area of the survey to increase consistency therefore reliability.

With respect to your investigation, what other data might you have liked to collect?

• We could have done a questionnaire of the local people/businesses to see whether they think that coastal management has been successful, to gain another perspective on the issue.

• We could have collected more secondary data e.g. to see how much the different management strategies cost.