[Publish Date]

THE GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT Year 8 Geography – Curriculum

Autumn Term

Rocks and Resources

How does rock type influence landscape? How do we make use of rock resources?

Source of knowledge

Textbook (Geog. 3 - 4th Edition, pages 6 - 20) T: Drive Geography KS3 folder for teaching resources (PowerPoints, video links etc.)

Knowledge

• Rocks and resources are unevenly distributed around the world and are important in our world today.

• Rocks can be categorised into three different types: - Igneous — they form from the cooling of magma deep

inside the earth. They often have large crystals (you can see them with the naked eye).

- Metamorphic — they are rocks that have been changed

in shape and form by intense heat and pressure at a plate boundary or along a fault line. They can form both underground and at the surface.

Students will apply the knowledge by;

Multiple Choice Quiz on the Rock Cycle Exam style question on describing the pattern of UK geology. Extended writing task evaluating quarries in National Parks.

- - - Sedimentary — they are made up of small particles of

sand and rock, which have been transported by the wind, rivers and ice and are usually deposited on lake or seabed. They are formed through the compression and solidification of sediment. They can be formed from organic remains (such as limestone), or from the cementing of other rocks.

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• The Earth's rocks do not stay the same forever. They are continually changing because of processes such as weathering, erosion and large earth movements. The rocks are gradually recycled over millions of years. This is called the rock cycle. For example, sedimentary rocks can be changed into metamorphic rocks. These can be weathered, eroded, and the pieces transported away. The pieces of rock could be deposited in a lake or sea, eventually forming new sedimentary rock. The processes in the rock cycle are summarised in this diagram:

• The UK has an uneven distribution of the different types of rocks. - Igneous rocks can be found mainly in upland areas in

Scotland, in the Lake District in North West England and Snowdonia in North Wales and Northern Ireland.

- Metamorphic rocks are found in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

- Sedimentary rocks can be found across lowland areas of southern and central parts of England. This can be shown on the maps below:

Limestone

• Limestone is an organic, sedimentary rock. This means it was formed from the remains of tiny shells and micro-skeletons deposited on the sea bed. Over the years this sediment was compressed to form solid rock. Limestone is formed in layers - called bedding planes. These bedding planes contain vertical cracks called joints. Joints and bedding planes make the rock permeable.

• Limestone areas are predominantly affected by chemical weathering when rainwater, which contains a weak carbonic acid, reacts with limestone. When it rains limestone is dissolved. Rainwater erodes the vertical joints and horizontal bedding planes. In doing this karst scenery is created which includes the following features: - Clints and grykes - rainwater flowing over an

impermeable surface will, on reaching (permeable) limestone, be able to dissolve the joints into grooves called grykes, leaving blocks or clumps of limestone in between called clints.

- Stalactite - water dripping from the roofs of caves leave behind microscopic particles of calcium carbonate. These build up as icicle shaped stalactites.

- Stalagmite - drips splashing onto the floor of caves leave behind microscopic particles of calcium carbonate. These build up on the floor of caves.

- Pillar - where a stalagmite and stalactite join you get a pillar.

- Cavern - an underground cave that has been hollowed out by the action of underground streams and by carbonation and solution.

• Few people realise the importance of limestone in their day-

to-day lives. Almost every common household product contains the material in one form or another. It can be used in building, constructions, glass, tile adhesive, carpet backing, toothpaste and found in foods such as bread.

• There a several advantages and disadvantages of limestone quarrying in the UK which can be categorised into social, economic and environmental factors. Some of which are stated below:

Advantages Disadvantages

It creates jobs. (social and economic) Once all the limestone is quarries the area is then landscaped so that it blends in with the natural surroundings. (environmental) Limestone is a useful raw material; used to make cement, concrete, paper, glass, mortar as well as neutralizing acidic lakes and soils. (economic and environmental)

Quarries are an eyesore and destroy the habitat of many different animals. (environmental)

Lorries transport the limestone which adds to the traffic coming in and out of the town. (social)

With more lorries more carbon dioxide is released which is a greenhouse gas. (environmental)

To break the rock the quarry uses explosives which cause noise pollution and add dust to the surrounding air. (environmental)

Diamonds Diamonds are an important resource in the world. They are formed through heat and the high pressure of the Earth's surface on the mantle is causes the carbon atoms to bond together. The bonding of the atoms causes crystals to form diamonds. The diamonds make their way to the Earth's surface through a special kind of volcanic eruption that comes from deep in the Earth.

Blood Diamonds, also known as Conflict Diamonds are used in the illegal trading of diamonds financing conflict, civil wars and human rights abuses in Africa. This illegal diamond trade has been used by warlords and rebels in Africa to buy weapons. The countries involved in the trading of blood diamonds are Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

A typical image of a diamond mine in Africa Oil

Oil is an important non-renewable resource that we still rely on today. Despite it being a non-renewable resource the demand for oil is still increasing. Oil is formed from the remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago in the sea. These remains were covered by layers of sand and silt. Heat and pressure from the Earth's core turned them into oil. The oil is trapped between layers of impermeable rocks.

Vocabulary ‘Rock’, ‘Resource’, ‘Rock Cycle’, ‘Metamorphic Rock’, ‘Igneous Rock’, ‘Sedimentary Rock’, ‘Geology’, ‘Distribution’, ‘Stalagmite’, ‘Stalactite’, ‘Column’, ‘Limestone’, ‘Quarrying’, ‘Blood Diamond’ and ‘Oil’. (All key words are defined in the text above)

Assessment Focus

End of topic assessment which includes multiple choice questions, short questions and extended exam-style question including marks for SPaG.

Autumn Term

Development

How and why do countries levels of development vary?

Source of knowledge

Development - Textbook (Geog. 3 - 4th Edition, pages 64 - 82) T: Drive Geography KS3 folder for teaching resources (PowerPoints, video links etc.)

Knowledge

Development

Development Development is the process of change for the better, improving people’s lives. It is happening all over the world, some places develop fast, others are restricted in their ability to develop for many reasons. We live in an unequal world, a 15-year-old living in the USA will likely have one of the highest standards of living, a good home, good education, holidays, pocket money and good job prospects. A 15-year-old living in Ghana may not get the chance to go to school, will spend a good amount of time working on the family farm and will be likely to earn a low wage in future. Of course this is not always the case, everywhere in the world has people who are richer and poorer than those around them. Measuring Development Each part of our world and the countries that we have are in a different stage of development. In a highly developed country… (High Income Country/HIC) Everyone will have access to clean water; good education; very little extreme poverty; good access to well paid jobs; excellent hospitals, good transport links; people are treated equally and women have a good a chance as men to earn a living. In a less developed country… (Low Income Country/LIC) Many people will not have access to clean and safe water; children will only go to school for a limited time; there will be many people living in extreme poverty; there are few hospitals and schools; high birth rates; poor transport links and roads in disrepair/dirt tracks; Shops will only sell a limited amount of goods; many people will work in agriculture. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is one way that we can measure a countries development. This is the total value of goods and services that a country produces in one year. We can also average this out to give GDP per person which tells us what a typical person in that country will earn. Other measures that can be used to compare the development of countries are: Adult literacy; life expectancy; access to clean water (%); number of doctors per 10,000 people; Under 5 mortality rate; %age of children under 5 underweight.

Students will apply the knowledge by; Exam style question using knowledge of development indicators to compare different levels of development. Exam style question to evaluate the usefulness of the Brandt line in measuring development in the modern world Presentation of the sustainable development goals justifying which is the most effective in reducing the development gap.

High income and low income countries/Brandt line

Causes of a lack of development:

Poverty: a person is considered poor if their income level falls below the minimum level needed to meet basic needs…the world bank estimates this to be living on less than $1.90 per day. Many people in the world live in poverty due to:

…in countries such as Ghana where loans are taken out to buy imported goods, the country finds itself in debt. So crops are sold cheaply (cash crops) to pay off the debt and the money therefore cannot be used to help the country develop.

…diseases such as Malaria (e.g. Mozambique) HIV/AIDS mean that many people become too ill to work and struggle to provide for their families. There are also many children who have lost their parents to disease and are now orphans. Many types of disease can be expensive to treat meaning that the country will again have less money to spend on development.

…parts of the Sahel region in Northern Africa, the climate is extremely dry. Where there are poor farming practices such as over cultivation or overgrazing (too many animals or plants on the land) the land can become poor and turn to desert (desertification). This means that farmers will find it difficult to work and earn money.

…conflict e.g. war destroys land and causes people to flee leaving their possessions and family behind (refugees). Money will be spent on weapons to fight the war rather than on education and healthcare again holding back development.

There are many simple but effective solutions to combat these issues. Simple water pumps can help farmers and villages get a reliable and sustainable water supply. Cooperatives work well when people work together to improve their lives buying equipment or bargaining for a better price for their produce. Education in schools, colleges or even on the local farm helps immensely.

The development gap could be closed overtime with the help from Governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO e.g. Oxfam) and of course individuals. AID can be given in many forms, money, clothes, a loan, food, or education and training are some examples which can make a difference.

An easy way to help close the development gap is for the richer countries to cancel loans that poorer countries have made from them. They could reorganise the terms allowing a longer payback time or lower interest rates.

Something that we all could do is buy into the concept of FAIRER TRADE. This is when we pay slightly more for a product (a fairer price!) and more of this money goes to the producer (the farmer). This extra money is then used to improve not only the farmers’ life but that of those who live in the local area around the farm. Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals are a global action plan made by the United Nations member states in 2015. There are 17 ‘goals’ to be met by 2030. If met then this would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change! The SDG’s are:

The 2030 Agenda for sustainable Development adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. Some parts of the world are well on the way to meeting some of these targets, unfortunately there are still many places that are from meeting any of them.

Vocabulary

Development ‘Development’, ‘Low Income Country (LIC)’, ‘High Income Country (HIC)’, ‘Human Development Index (HDI)’, ‘Development Indicators’(something that we can measure to compare countries development) ‘GDP per capita’, ‘Development gap’ ( the difference in development between rich

and poor countries), ‘Brandt Line’, ‘North-South Divide’, ‘Newly Emerging Economies (NEE)’, ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ and ‘Global Goals’ (key terms defined in text above apart from those in brackets)

Assessment Focus

Development - End of topic assessment which includes multiple choice questions.

Autumn Term

Africa

What explains the diversities of landscapes and people in the continent of Africa?

Source of knowledge

Africa - Textbook (Geog. 1 - 4th Edition, pages 100 - 114) T: Drive Geography KS3 folder for teaching resources (powerpoints, video links etc.)

Knowledge

Africa is not a country it is a continent and has 54 countries. Their borders were established mainly by Europeans who took over most of Africa. Although the countries are all different, they have several things in common.

The equator runs across the middle of Africa and therefore a huge amount of land lies within the Tropics.

Africa is the world’s second largest continent, both for area and population. (Africa 30.1million km squared and approximately 1.1 billion people). People are not spread out equally across the continent, many people live along the North Coast where it is cooler and closer to Europe. Hardly any people live in the Sahel region where the Sahara Desert makes it too hot and dry to live.

Half of the people in Africa today are aged under 20 and 85% are under 45. English is the official language in over 20 African countries. Many African people work on farms (60%) and in some countries this can be as much as 90%. In Egypt most people live along the River Nile where there is good access to water. Many people live in the West of Africa which in many place is rich in resources and the climate is great for agriculture.

Students will apply the knowledge by; Reinforcing map skills knowledge by completing physical and human features of Africa on a map. Exam style question where students apply their knowledge on the similarities and differences between two different biomes in Africa. Interpret a range of maps to describe and explain the population distribution of Africa.

Some parts of Africa are rich in resources and some countries can earn quite a bit of money from them and there are many wealthy people who have earned a good living from oil and gas production as well as gold and diamonds. In contrast though around half of the people on this continent live in poverty.

Africa is so huge it has vastly different climates and some very interesting physical features. The Atlas Mountains stands out in the North West of the continent and can be found in Morocco and Algeria. The Sahara Desert covers a huge part of the North of the continent. Mt. Kilimanjaro stands tall in the east of the continent at 5895m above sea level. Victoria Falls is one of the most famous waterfalls in the world and forms part of the Zambezi River. In the south of the country we find the Kalahari and Namib deserts.

Africa is bounded by the Red Sea, and Indian Ocean to the west, Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Mediterranean Sea to the North.

Biomes

A biome is a large are of land or region which has its own distinct climate, plants, animals and vegetation.

Africa has four main biomes, in the North and smaller areas of the south there is Hot Desert. It can be hot up to around 50+ degrees during the day and around minus 10 at night. There is little rain, there can be strong winds and the plants that live there must adapt to this. They will therefore be small and spiny and good at storing water. Camels are a famous animal that we find here but there are also others such as antelopes, scorpions, small rodents who are also able to live here.

The semi-desert is a little wetter and lies between the hot desert and the Savanna. It does rain here for a few months but most of the year it is dry. Grass can be found here and long with some small trees. People are able to live in this area raising animals, cattle, goats and sheep as well as camels in the North. This area can suffer from drought quite often when the rains fail.

The Savanna grassland found either side of the tropical rainforests is warm and wet with a drier season for a small part of the year. There is mainly grass and trees. This landscape you would recognise if you were to think about African Safaris…you will see elephants, giraffes, zebras and gazelles. Overuse of the land in this area sometimes makes the land useless and turns it to desert.

The Rainforest biome covers the main part of central Africa in between the tropics. It is hot and wet as well as sunny most of the time and therefore great conditions for growing crops. Thousands of different species of plants and animals live here. Some of the trees can grow up to 50m tall. The African Rainforest is suffering from some of the problems that the more famous Amazon Rainforest in South America is facing…much of it has been destroyed as people look for land to build on, grow crops or raise animals.

Africa Biomes

History If you were to travel back in time, history will show that there were many African civilisations, empires, and kingdoms. ( e.g. Ancient Egypt 3100-20BC; Mali Empire 800-1500AD; Kingdom of Kongo- -1400-1941 AD)

The Egyptian Empire lasted over 3000 years and ended in 30BC with the death of Cleopatra.

The Mali Empire grew wealthy mainly through selling salt, gold, ivory, pottery, silk and slaves.

The Kingdom of Kongo depended on trade in ivory, metals and slaves. From 1875 it was controlled by Portugal.

Around 600 years ago, Europe began to take an interest in Africa, in 1420 Portuguese ships arrived to explore and were soon followed by other countries like the Dutch and the English.

At first, they traded for resources and slaves, they swapped, cloth, beads, guns etc. for gold and ivory amongst other things. The slave trade lasted for over 300 years.

The Europeans decided that trading was not quite good enough and they decided to take control of some of the land. Many parts of the continent were colonialised. Many areas were fought over until 1884 where the continent was divided up into new Countries with the European countries running them.

Many countries are now independent of the European countries; Libya was the first gaining independence from Italy in 1951.

Areas of Africa controlled by European countries (1914)

Vocabulary

Africa ‘Africa’, ‘Physical’ (natural features of Africa), ‘Human’ (manmade features of Africa), ‘Desert’, ‘Diurnal Temperature’ (the difference between the highest and the lowest temperature during a 24 hr period), ‘Arid’(very dry), ‘Climate’ (long term weather and climate of a specifc place measured over at least one year), ‘Biome’, ‘Biodiversity’ (the range of different plants and animals in a place/ecosystem), ‘Adaptation’, ‘Buttress Roots’, ‘Colonialism’, ‘Slaves’, ‘Independence’, ‘Densely’ and ‘Sparsely’ (all key terms defined in the text above apart from those in brackets)

Assessment Focus

Africa - End of topic assessment which includes multiple choice questions, short questions and extended exam-style question including marks for SPaG.

Spring Term

The Horn of Africa

What unique challenges are presented in the region of the Horn of Africa?

Source of knowledge

Textbook (Geog. 1 - 4th Edition, pages 116 - 136) National geographic - world’s toughest jobs video clips T: Drive Geography KS3 folder for teaching resources (powerpoints, video links etc.)

Knowledge

The Horn of Africa is a distinct region of the north west of the continent of Africa. There are four main countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. This region is referred to as the Horn of Africa because… when you look at it on a map it looks like a Rhino Horn!

The capital cities of these four countries are: Eritrea=Asmara; Djibouti=Djibouti; Ethiopia=Addis Ababa and Somalia=Mogadishu. The Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are found to the west of this area.

People

There is a lot that these countries have in common. A shared history where ancient civilisations ruled across the land. Ethnic groups are spread out across the countries, the Afar mainly live in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The Somali people can be found in Somalia, Ethiopia and also in Djibouti.

It can be quite dry despite being in the topics, the Highlands region however does get some rainfall and can be a little cooler.

This area has seen in the past and continues to see today much conflict and change, it is quite a poor region but many places are starting to develop fast.

Physical Geography

In the west there is the Ethiopian Highlands where we can see Lake Tana and Ras Dashen . The Ethiopian Highlands are divided in two by the Rift Valley a lowland area between two highland areas created by tectonic plate movement) which has a string of lakes throughout. One of the most famous rivers in the world starts here, the Blue Nile rises in this area joins the White Nile further north to become the River Nile which then flows on to Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

Students will apply the knowledge by; Reinforcing map skills knowledge by completing physical and human features of the Horn of Africa on a map. Showing empathy for the challenges faced in the Danakil Depression through the diary of a Salt Miner. Create a divided bar graph of the price of a cup of coffee to examine inequalities in the production process.

One of the most unusual places in the world is found here: The Afar Triangle, one of the lowest places in Africa. There are volcanoes (e.g. Erta Ale) and earthquakes here as the tectonic plates are being pulled apart from each other. The hottest place on Earth the Danakil Depression is in this triangle, it is 100m below sea level and receives very little rain. Somalia has a great coastline, but more recently this area has become famous for the wrong reasons…Pirates! they attack and try to steal ships or their cargo as they pass through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Climate

This is a tropical area so is hot all year round especially on the lower lying land. It does get cooler in the west in the Ethiopian Highlands. In the west rainfall can be as much as 2-3000 mm of rainfall per year but on the coast, this drops to less than 200mm. There are rainy and dry seasons and the rains are becoming more unreliable which does not help the farmers in this area. Crops that can be grown with some success are wheat, coffee, cotton and sugar as well as bananas. People in this region also look after animals living a nomadic lifestyle (wandering from place to place).

Coffee farming in Ethiopia

Coffee has been grown in this country for over 100 years it is famous for it! Coffee is Ethiopia’s biggest export and many people rely on it to make a living.

Coffee is usually grown on plantations (small family run farms) to keep up with the competition and help each other out many farmers join a cooperative (a group of plantation owners who work together to sell their coffee to a buyer and get a better price) and work together.

Coffee comes from a red cherry that grows on a tree, it is normally picked by hand by the farmer and his family. They take the cherry’s in sacks to the coop store where they are put into a pulping machine where the coffee bean is removed. This is then dried and checked by hand before being roasted and turned into a cup of coffee.

Farmers can find it difficult to get a consistent income from growing coffee, sometimes poor weather gives them a bad harvest and they don’t make much money. There are four main companies who buy the coffee and they always want to buy it at the lowest price. Therefore, many

cooperatives spring up so the farmers can get together to demand a better price.

Some companies now try to offer a fairer price to their suppliers (Fair Trade). This means that they make slightly less profit, we must pay a little more, but the farmer gets more money that he can spend on his family and in his local village.

Life as a Nomad

A nomad leads an interesting life, they rear animals mainly, and travel with them around the region to find new grazing to keep them fed. These people work a long day getting up early and walking many miles to get the best land for their animals. They live in the dry areas and chase the rain when it falls. There are known to be around 10 million nomads in the Horn of Africa. Nomads make a living by selling their meat and milk from their animals. It is a tough life, rain is falling less and is becoming more unreliable (not falling when expected), there is conflict and civil war in many places and competition from other nomads for the best land.

Life as a Salt Miner

Salt mining takes place in the Danakil Depression area of the Horn of Africa. This area is extremely hot and a hostile place for humans as well as animals.

The salt was formed when sea levels were higher, and the Red Sea flooded the low land area. The sea then evaporated over time and left

the salt behind. Locals make a living by mining the salt mainly by hand and exporting it to countries in Europe and elsewhere.

Salt miners work by hand in 50+ degree heat, they work a long day handpicking and cutting slabs of slat from the ground day after day. They are paid very little; it is the landowners who make the most money. There is no road so trucks and machines can’t get near the salt flats, so everything needs to be done by hand. One day a road might be built, and the salt miners may lose their jobs to machines!

Life on the Coast

Horn of Africa coastline stretches over 5600km. Somalia has the longest stretch. There are great beaches and many ports, tourists love to snorkel and dive on the coral reefs and many people can earn a living from them that is until recently...

A civil war broke out in Somalia around 1991. The country was in turmoil. Foreign fishing boats took advantage and started to fish in Somalian waters, so fights broke out and boats were captured and fined. Some people saw this as an easy way to make money so joined in and hijacked many other boats and ships. Huge profits were made. Now many ships travelling through this area have armed guards to protect themselves. Since 2013 things have been a little more peaceful both on land and in the sea.

Life in the City

Addis Ababa is Ethiopia’s capital city, the biggest in the region with around 4 million people living there. It is a special place where many international organisations are based. It is 2300m above sea level and has a varied climate. This city is growing and changing rapidly as many people move here to find work. New buildings are springing up rapidly and the population increases by around 140,000 per year many of whom have not been able to find work.

Slums (poorly built temporary housing areas with little or no services and facilities) are a big issue, 75% of the city is classed as slums. People struggle to find a job, get food and clean water, sanitation is poor, and disease can be rife. The government is investing money to try to turn this

round building thousands of new flats on the edge of the city. This helps explain why the city is growing so rapidly. It is a city of contrast, new and modern next to traditional, next to slums.

Vocabulary

‘Horn of Africa’, ‘Climate graph’ (a graph showing monthly rainfall and average monthly temperatures for a specific place), ‘Precipitation’ (the transfer of moisture from the air to the ground. Usually rainfall), ‘Danakil Depression’, ‘Salt Mining’, ‘Tectonic Plates’, ‘Nomad’, ‘Sustainable’(low impact use of land and resources) , ‘Export’(goods and services sold abroad), ‘Economy’, ‘Urban’ and ‘Infrastructure’(roads, railways, communications, and services of a settlement)

Assessment Focus

End of topic assessment which includes multiple choice questions.

Summer Term

Coastal Processes and Landscapes

How are coastal landscapes created? How do coasts create challenges for people living there?

Source of knowledge

Textbook (Geog. 2 - 4th Edition, pages 48 - 65) Time for geography and BBC news video clips. T: Drive Geography KS3 folder for teaching resources (PowerPoints, video links etc.)

Knowledge

The coastline is where the land, sea and atmosphere meet and interact. Our coastline is a very dynamic place. It is shaped by both physical and human influences. One of the biggest issues that faces our coastline is rapid erosion, some places suffer more than others.

Waves and tides

Waves are caused by the wind blowing over the surface of the sea and dragging the surface particles of water. The bigger the sea or ocean the stronger the winds and therefore the more powerful the winds are likely to be. The distance that the wind blows over is called the fetch.

Out in the sea or ocean waves tend to roll in a circular motion. When they approach the coast, they slow down due to friction on the lower half of the wave causing the bottom to slow down whilst the top keeps going. This causes the wave to form an elliptical shape and the top moves up and over and this is when we see the wave break. The water rushes up the beach (swash) and then returns to the sea (backwash).

Students will apply the knowledge by; Using a series of diagrams students will apply their knowledge of the coastal processes (erosion, transport and deposition) to explain the variety of landforms. Exam style question to evaluate the effectiveness of different coastal management strategies.

Constructive Waves

These waves are gentle, they are normally found on a calm day and only have enough energy to slowly move material up the beach they therefore help make beaches bigger.

Destructive Waves

Destructive waves normally form on stormy days and have a huge amount of energy. This means that they can eat away at the coastline and material can be carried away.

Tides

The gravitational pull of the moon as it travels around the earth attracts the sea and pulls the water to one side of the ocean. High tides occur approximately every twelve and a half hours with low tides in-between. On one side of the sea or ocean there is a high tide whilst on the opposite the sea level will be at its lowest. Tidal range is the difference between the highest and lowest tide in an area. Due to changes in the relationship between the moon, the sun and the earth tides change throughout the year.

Coastal processes

Waves have huge amounts of energy. They use this energy to erode material, transport the eroded material and when they run out of energy deposit what they have moved.

Erosional processes

Waves pound at the coast like a hammer.

Hydraulic Action is when the water is forced against rocks and into crack helping break bits off cliff.

Abrasion is when sand and pebbles are flung against a cliff acting like sandpaper and wearing it away.

Attrition is when pebbles and rocks knock into each other as they swirl around in the moving water and the get smaller and rounder.

Solution is when the salty sea water dissolves rock material breaking it down.

Transport (Long shore drift)

Waves don’t always approach the coastline straight on. They normally arrive at an angle due to the varied shape of the coastline. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material is moved by this process every year.

Deposition

Where waves have little energy due to calm conditions they drop the material that was being carried. This forms beaches, some made from sand and some from pebbles (shingle) depending on the local geology.

Coastal Landforms

The coastline is made up of differing types of rock with varied rock structure. This helps shape landforms that we find along the coast.

Headlands are areas of harder rock that has been left behind as the softer rock has been eroded away more quickly to form bays.

Wave cut platforms are created when waves attack the bottom of a cliff between high tide and low tide. This creates a notch and undercuts the cliff above. In time the cliff which has been left unsupported collapses. The cliff moves back overtime and leaves an area of exposed rock referred to as a wave cut platform.

Caves, arches stacks and stumps.

When the sea attacks a weaker area of a cliff (e.g. a joint or a crack) at a headland overtime the crack will turn into cave. The cave gets eroded all the way through to the other side of the headland forming an arch. As the arch gets bigger the roof becomes unsupported and eventually collapses to leave a stack, this in turn gets worn away to become a stump.

Beaches, saltmarshes and spits.

Eroded material is carried along the coast by longshore drift can be deposited in sheltered areas (bays) to become a beach. When material being carried along a beach comes across a change in the coastline where it just out into the sea the material is pushed out and deposited to form a spit. When this happens across a river mouth silt and mud being carried by the river gets trapped behind the spit to form a salt marsh.

The coastline is a very useful place, places that have great beaches attract tourists, fisherman work just off the coast catching fish, there are ports where huge amounts of goods are imported and exported and of course people like to live there. 55% of the land belongs to the government, 3% by the MOD (Ministry of Defence), The National Trust looks after 1200km of UK coastline and 20% is privately owned.

Coastal Management

There is a need to protect some areas of coast from coastal flooding, we can do this by trying to keep the sea back or reduce the energy of the waves when they arrive.

Hard and Soft engineering

The coastline is a dynamic environment and is constantly changing. Man battles against the elements to protect our coastline from erosion especially during winter storms.

Hard engineering:

Sea Walls are common in the UK, they are usually concrete barriers aligned along the coast, they are curved to help turn the waves and water back around. They are the most effective form of defence but are also the most expensive at at around £5000 per metre.

Rock Armour is used extensively along our coastline; huge boulders are place on the shore or just offshore in some cases. The waves crash against them and the power and energy is dissipated. They cost half the price of a sea wall.

Revetments are wooden fences placed on a beach and the waves batter them rather than the cliff behind. Revetments cost around £1500 per metre.

Groynes are commonly found on beaches. They are either wood or concrete. The groynes help stop longshore drift and keep the sand in place. This stops the

beach from being eroded away and remains as a good natural form of defence. Groynes cost around £100,000 each.

Soft Engineering

Beach replenishment is seen as a more nature friendly way of protecting our coastline. This is when sand is sucked up from the sea bed offshore and pumped on land to create a new wider beach. This wide beach will then protect the land behind it and looks much more natural!

Beaches can also be reprofiled by machines to make the sand more evenly spread and wider in places, this is referred to as beach reprofiling. Sand dunes can also be restored by planting plants that help keep them in place like Marram grass. This stabilises the sand and stops it from being blown or washed away.

The last choice or first choice that some councils make is to allow the coast to do what it does naturally and not intervene. The waves and tides can flood in and attack the coast. This is known as managed retreat.

Beach replenishment

Beach replenishment or beach nourishment is the process by which sand is replaced along the beach. To maintain the beach, 5,000 cubic metres of sand and gravel is transferred by lorry from further down the beach, and 20,000 cubic metres is taken from the seabed and sprayed back onto the beach.

Advantages

Restores and widens the natural beach. Does not leave hazards on the beach or in the surf zone. Protects the natural look of the area.

Disadvantages

As it does not prevent material being washed away, beach replenishment has to be continuously carried out.

This is an expensive process that needs to be repeated. This involves the use of a dredger which is noisy and upsets

tourism and kills marine life from the sea bed.

Beach recycling

Beach recycling involves moving material from one end of the beach where it has been deposited back to the other end where is has been eroded to try to even out this natural movement. This happens three times a year, and often takes place after winter storms when the largest natural movement of material takes place.

Advantages

By carrying out beach recycling no material is needed to be dredged from the sea.

Also it ensures that the beach has an even profile and no particular point is subject to wave attack.

Disadvantages

However it does have to be carried out 3 times a year which makes it costly.

Does not prevent loss of beach material.

Beach reprofiling

Beach profiling involves shaping the beach in a particular way so that it absorbs more energy during storms. Bulldozers move the beach material back up the beach and shape if to give a gentle slope which will reflect wave energy.

Advantages

Beach profiling gives the beach a continued natural look. Uses the beach as a natural barrier against the sea

Disadvantages.

Using bulldozers along the coast is noisy and will scare wildlife. The sea constantly changes the shape of the coast so it needs

carrying out regularly. This can be expensive.

Coastal defences cost a lot of money and need to be maintained. Some people argue that when you protect the coast in one area then this might cause a problem further down the coast. (e.g. a groyne is designed to stop the natural movement of sand along a coastline to where it might be protecting another town or village).

Case Study One: Happisburgh

Happisburgh is a village on the North Norfolk coastline which suffers from high amounts of erosion.

The cliffs are soft sand on top of clay and are very easily eroded and washed away by the sea especially during winter storms. Happisburgh has got some defences in place but they are reaching the end of their life and are poorly maintained and have been battered and broken by many recent storms. There are sea walls and revetments that were built in the 1950’s are in a state of disrepair and urgently need replaced.

The government has decided that the coastline is not worth protecting and spending any more money on after doing a cost benefit analysis (The cost of new defences will cost more than the land and buildings are worth).

The local villages are running a campaign to raise money so that they can build their own defences. The local council has also spent £160,000 on a small section of rock armour that is making a small difference in places. However ongoing studies show that the cliff is still likely to retreat between 30-75 metres over the next 5 to 10 years.

Case Study Two: Ventnor

Ventnor is on the south east coast of the isle of Wight, like Happisburgh its coastline is rapidly eroding. This is because much of the land there is made of clay which can hold moisture and slump slowly or slide quickly downhill into the sea. Ventor is the largest inhabited landslip area in Europe. There are many buildings and businesses in this settlement which unlike Happisburgh make it an area of high economic value and therefore the authorities are more likely to spend some money to protect it.

Tourism brings a huge amount of income to the people who live and work there. There are many hotels and B&Bs. There are also other businesses like pubs and restaurants which also depend on tourism for income.

The council along with other stakeholders (other people who have an interest in this area) has spent money on sea defences to protect the town. Tetrapods (manmade rock armour) have been put on the bottom of the cliffs, drainage channels to take away the excess moisture in the cliffs have also been deployed. Unfortunately, Ventor has a narrow beach and therefore does not have much natural protection. Sea Walls are also found here and there is an added bonus as the promenade on top of the sea wall allows access to the next settlement along the coastline by foot (Bonchurch)

There are some coastal defences in place protecting Ventnor, these can be seen in the annotated photo above.