Why does coastal management vary

It is not possible to completely stop the power of natural forces from changing the coast. People try to protect some areas from erosion but this can have negative impacts as well as positive. The way the coast is managed can cause conflict. There are two types of coastal management:.

Coastal management Coasts are important for many different reasons and for different groups of people. They provide: places to live places to work, eg fishing, ports and power stations places to relax - leisure and tourism industries wildlife habitats beautiful scenery educational value, eg geology and natural history You can probably think of many more reasons why coasts need to be protected. Revetments are concrete or in some cases wooden structures that are built along the base of a cliff.

The revetments absorb the energy of the waves, preventing the cliffs from being eroded. Revetments can be modified so that they have rippled surfaces, which further help to dissipate the wave energy. Revetments are normally successful at reducing coastal erosion but they are expensive to build. Riprap are just rocks and stones that have been put against the base of a cliff. 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.

Breakwaters are offshore concrete walls that break incoming waves out at sea so that their erosive power is reduced to next to none when they reach the coast.

Big, retractible walls built across estuaries that can be used as a floodgate to prevent storm surges. 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. 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. This land management is discussed in more detail here. Marshland can be used to break up the waves and reduce their speed, reducing the waves erosive power.

The marshlands also limit the area which waves can reach preventing flooding. The marshlands can be created by encouraging the growth of marshland vegetation such as glassworts.

Beach stabilisation involves planting dead trees in the sand to stabilise it and lower the profile of the beach while widening the beach too. The Wirral is located in the north west of England, to the south of Liverpool.

The Wirral is a peninsula meaning that three sides of the Wirral are surrounded by water while the fourth side is attached to the land. A combination of both hard engineering and soft engineering techniques have been employed. New Brighton was a very important coastal tourist destination on the Wirral however over the past 30 years the are has fallen into decline. In more recent years, the area has been rejuvenated and many new structures have been constructed along New Brighton making protecting New Brighton from the sea incredibly important.

Land uses in New Brighton include economic and residential uses. This venue is of particular importance to New Brighton as it is the primary source of visitors to the area and has received much recognition including a visit from The Queen. New Brighton is at particular risk of coastal flooding and erosion due to its location. In addition, a low pressure system around New Brighton means that storm surges are a common occurrence making the area particularly susceptible to flooding.

This is worsened by the fact that most of New Brighton is only a few metres above sea level so only a relatively small storm surge would be needed to flood a large section of New Brighton. In order to protect New Brighton, several sea defences have been employed.

The wall is 4m tall and stretches along 2. It was constructed using leftover material from the construction of the Queensway tunnel.

The wall is specially designed in order to reduce the impact of waves as much as possible and increase its lifespan at the same time. The top of the wall is curved slightly in order to reflect back waves that impact it and dissipate their energy. This helps reduce the rate at which the sea wall is worn down since it is, slowly, being worn away.

This is one of the main issues with the wall, it requires a lot of attention and is expensive.