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Coastal Management - More Hard Engineering

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Coastal Defences - Hard Engineering 2

Hard engineering strategies aim to reduce the effects of flooding and erosion by building man-made structures that control the sea's flow. Examples of hard engineering strategies include:

Revetments

Revetments

  • A cheaper version of a seawall. They are placed against the base of a cliff.
  • They are made from wood or concrete and they look like a sloping ramp.
  • They deflect (change the direction of) wave energy to protect the cliff’s base as this reduces undercutting.
  • Advantages:
    • They are cheaper to install than a sea wall and do a similar job.
    • They need less maintenance than a sea wall.
  • Disadvantages:
    • They are quite expensive to install.
    • They look quite unnatural and unattractive.
Offshore breakwater 1

Offshore breakwater 1

  • These shelter the beach from waves.
  • Breakwaters can be constructed with one end linked to the shore or positioned offshore from as little as 100 m up to 300–600 m from the original shoreline.
  • They are constructed with rubble/rocks and/or concrete
Offshore breakwater 2

Offshore breakwater 2

  • Advantages:
    • Very effective as they take almost all the energy from the waves so they work well.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Difficult to maintain, expensive to maintain.
    • Ruin the beach effect of waves lapping on the shore.
    • Unnatural.
    • Can be destroyed by storm waves.
    • Look unattractive.
Tidal barrage

Tidal barrage

  • A feature of river estuaries.
  • These are big walls across an estuary that can be opened or closed.
  • Advantage - really effective at protecting whatever is behind them (e.g. London - Thames Barrier).
  • Disadvantage - very high costs.
Jump to other topics
1

Paper 1 - Changing River Environnments

2

Paper 1 - Changing Coastal Environments

3

Paper 1 - Changing Ecosystems

4

Paper 1 - Tectonic Hazards

5

Paper 1 - Climate Change

6

Paper 2 - Changing Populations

7

Paper 2 - Changing Towns & Cities

8

Paper 2 - Development

9

Paper 2 - Changing Economies

10

Paper 2 - Resource Provision

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