Flashcards
Hard and Soft Engineering Techniques
Cards in this deck (6)
- 1Hard Engineering: What are sea walls?Sea walls are large flat walls, however, more modern sea walls have a curved structure that reflects waves back into incoming waves, breaking them up and further reducing erosion.
- 2What are groynes?Groynes are relatively soft hard engineering techniques. They’re low lying wooden walls that extend out to sea. The idea of groynes is to capture sand that moves down the beach via longshore drift and help build up a larger section of beach in front of an area that’s experiencing coastal erosion. The new beach will increase the distance that waves have to travel to reach the coast and, in the process, they’ll lose most of their energy, reducing their impact. Groynes are pretty effective but they have one major drawback.
- 3What is riprap?Riprap are just rocks and stones that have been put against the base of a cliff. They’re similar to gabions in their purpose but they aren’t bound together in a mesh. This makes them look slightly more appealing as they blend into the environment better however the rocks are susceptible to being moved by the sea.
- 4Soft Engineering Techniques: What is beach nourishment?This is where sand and shingle are added to a beach in order to make it wider. This increases the distance a wave has to travel to reach the cliffs and so the wave will lose more energy and have less erosive power when it reaches the cliffs. The sand and shingle has to be obtained from elsewhere and is normally obtained from dredging.
- 5What is land management?Land management is often used to help protect and rebuild dunes. Sand dunes act as a good barrier against coastal flooding and erosion and they can be exploited as a natural defence against the sea. In order to do so though, the dunes must be left relatively undisturbed so boardwalks are constructed and sections of sand dune systems are marked as out of bounds to the general public in order to reduce the erosion of the dunes by humans.
- 6What is beach stabilisation?The goal of beach stabilisation is the same as beach nourishment’s goal, to widen the beach and dissipate as much wave energy as possible before it reaches the cliffs. Beach stabilisation involves planting dead trees in the sand to stabilise it and lower the profile of the beach while widening the beach too.
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- - Geography (Easter HW) Flashcards on Hard and Soft Engineering Techniques, created by Muhammad Raza on 16/04/2018.
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- Muhammad Raza
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