geography coastal

Naqibullah Stanikzai

Section One Introduction

The aim of our coursework is to find out whether "the Naze needs coastal protection atherwise it will soon be lost to the sea due to erosion." We’re going to Walton on the Naze to take some experiments on coastal erosion. I want to find out about coastal erosion in England, and I have studied in geography class about Walton on the Naze. One of its sides is protected and the other side is not being protected from coastal erosion. The cost of sea defenses at Walton is very high so therefore people who live far from Walton-on-The-Naze don’t care about the Naze so they want to spend their tax money on other things that are important for them i.e. local hospitals and schools etc. people who live in Walton by the cliff even though the amount of money is high they will always want to pay for the sea defenses due to safety of their land such as the owners of the restaurant, farmers, pub, houses for living and factories. Walton-On-The-Naze is found in South-East of England in the county of Essex Walton on the Naze on the Essex coastline, a lot of people going by holiday.MAP BETWEEN WALTON ON THE NAZE AND LONDON

Coastal erosion is one of the big problems for England with strong winds coming from Europe. The wind travels 150km over the seat. There are two types of waves, the first one constructive wave it has a strong swash. A swash is when the wave breaks and the sea water move up the beach. They have a weak backwash, this is when the sea water goes back down the beach. The second one is a destructive wave. It’s swash is strong and so is the backwash which take a lot of materials off the beach.

i

Walton on the Naze is 200miles away from London and it takes about 2-3hours by car. As you can see the red line is the road that you need to get to Walton On The Naze.

We’re are here in London H&F

We’re going there to Walton on the Naze.


Destructive waves are not very high compared to destructive waves and they travel much slower. Their swash is not very strong enough to get to the beach but their backwash deposit lots of materials from the beach.

Destructive waves used four types of erosion; the first type of 'Hydraulic Actions' which wears away of coastal rocks by the impact of crashing waves against the coast. Water surges into the lines of weakness and tightly compresses the air inside. When the waves retreat, the explosive effects of expanding air, shatters coastal rocks.

The second type of erosion is the corrasion. It is caused when broken rock fragments laying on the beach and other materials such as boulder are hitting the cliff, which causes pieces of rocks to be broken off. This is carried by the seawater and it only takes place if the seawater is very strong.

The third type is corrosion. Corrosion is when the cliff is involved in the chemical reaction of the sea. It mainly affects if the cliff is limestone or chalk, because these two types of cliff are calcium carbonate, which easily wears away because they react with acid so they wear away and break off from the cliff.

ii

Constructive wave have strong swash

but weak backwash it can easily get to

the beach but cannot take out a lot

materials.

Destructive wave have a strong backwash which allows it to take lots of materials of the beach but its swash is weak.

The wind is coming from that direction


The last type is attrition which causes rocks and pebbles to bump into each other and break up.

Rock type's effects coastal erosion, if there is a hard rock such as granite they are less likely to be affected by waves or rain, because they are hard rock with strong forces, the waves cannot easily break it.

The other rock type is soft, these tend to wear away much quicker than hard rocks. E.g. Sandstone and Limestone. Some of them are made up of calcium carbonate or clay so the cliff won't last for long and will be lost quickly.

Coastal erosion has created a very big problem at Walton-On-The-Naze in the past, the problems are since the records began 9miles of land were lost. Since World War 2 which was about 60 years ago 30 meters of land were lost, because of the sea. My suggestion is to keep the land safe by paying for every protection we need e.g. seawall, revetment, gabions, groynes, rip-rap, beach replenishment and offshore breakwater. All these are the Walton's protection and I think it should be protected because it is a beautiful place for holiday's trip and it has been there for a very long time. At Walton, the fetch is very short, but it still damages the rocks because the rocks types are very soft. The two type of rock which is known are clay and sandstone which can easily erode together and can also destroy the cliff easily. Since all of these happen, there are lots of concerns about who wants to keep the land and who does not want to keep the land. So it depends on the government; should they invest in cliffs or leave to nature to eat away the cliffs and more exotic species of animals to be lost.

iii

Granite are les likely to be

affected by waves or rain, they are a

hard rock with strong forces.

This is a cliff which is made up of clay; it is more

likely to wear than a cliff made of granite.


iv

This is a building that has been at Walton up till World War 2 and is been kept like that for a very long time, after it has been attacked by the waves.