3.2.12

Coastal Management - Hard Engineering

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Coastal Defences - Hard Engineering

Hard engineering strategies to protect coastlines use man-made constructions to protect the coastline from the sea's erosion and destructive waves. Hard engineering can also be used to stop the sea or rivers from flooding areas. Examples of hard engineering strategies are:

Sea walls

Sea walls

  • Sea walls are made out of materials that block waves.
  • Making them out of hard rock or materials like concrete means that they are more resilient and last longer.
  • Their shape can be designed to reflect a wave's power back out to sea, instead of being absorbed by the sea wall head-on.
  • Sea walls can protect promenades from flooding and can reduce coastal erosion.
  • Sea walls cost a lot of money and have to be built all along a town's coastline to protect the town.
Rock armour

Rock armour

  • Rock armour is simply a pile of rocks or boulders.
  • The rocks absorb some of the pressure and energy transferred by waves.
  • Enormous waves can remove the boulders, but they are a very cheap form of coastal protection.
Gabions

Gabions

  • Gabions are wire cages full of boulders and rocks.
  • The gabions absorb some of the pressure and energy transferred by waves.
  • This leads to less erosion, but the wire in the cages is corroded over time.
Groynes

Groynes

  • Groynes are fences that stick out at 90o to the coast.
  • Groynes stop the process of longshore drift by trapping material against the fence.
  • Groynes create wide beaches, which are better for protecting the coastline from erosion and floods.
  • Building fences is also cheap.
Jump to other topics
1

The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1

Natural Hazards

1.2

Tectonic Hazards

1.3

Weather Hazards

1.4

Climate Change

2

The Living World

2.1

Ecosystems

2.2

Tropical Rainforests

2.3

Hot Deserts

2.4

Tundra & Polar Environments

3

Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1

The UK Physical Landscape

3.2

Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.3

River Landscapes in the UK

3.4

Glacial Landscapes in the UK

4

Urban Issues & Challenges

5

The Changing Economic World

5.1

The Changing Economic World

5.2

Economic Development in the UK

6

The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1

Resource Management

6.2

Food

6.3

Water

6.4

Energy

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