Key Terms: Coastal Management (AQA A Level Geography): Revision Note

Traditional approaches to management - key terms

Beach nourishment / replenishment – A soft engineering strategy involving the addition of sand or shingle to widen beaches, creating more area to absorb wave energy.

Cliff regrading and drainage – A technique to reduce the slope angle and add drainage to cliffs to make them more stable and reduce mass movement.

Cost–benefit analysis – A method of evaluating whether the benefits of a coastal defence scheme (such as protecting property or infrastructure) outweigh the financial and environmental costs.

Groyne – A hard engineering structure built at right angles to the coast to trap sediment moved by longshore drift and build up beaches.

Hard engineering – Coastal defences that involve built structures to resist the energy of waves and protect the coastline, often expensive and intrusive.

Managed retreat – Allowing controlled flooding of low-lying coastal areas to reduce pressure on more valuable areas and create natural defences like salt marshes.

Marsh creation – A strategy of allowing land to flood and develop into a salt marsh, which acts as a natural buffer against rising sea levels and wave energy.

Offshore breakwater – A rock or concrete barrier placed a short distance offshore to break incoming waves before they reach the beach.

Revetment – A sloped structure placed on banks or cliffs to absorb wave energy and reduce erosion.

Rip rap (rock armour) – Large rocks placed at the base of cliffs or sea walls to break up wave energy and reduce erosion.

Sea wall – A solid concrete wall that reflects wave energy back into the sea; protects the base of cliffs and settlements behind it.

Soft engineering – An approach that works with natural processes to manage the coastline, often cheaper and more environmentally sustainable than hard engineering.

Sustainable approach – A long-term, environmentally-friendly method of managing the coast, balancing economic, social, and ecological interests.

Sustainable integrated approaches - key terms

DEFRA – The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the UK government department responsible for producing coastal management guidance, including Shoreline Management Plans.

Hold the line – A shoreline management strategy that aims to maintain the existing coastline through defences.

ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) – A holistic strategy managing the entire coastal zone by coordinating the efforts of multiple stakeholders and recognising sediment cell processes.

Managed realignment – See Managed retreat.

Sediment cell – A section of the coastline within which sediment is largely self-contained; used as the basis for strategic coastal management.

Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) – A detailed strategy developed for each sediment cell in the UK to manage erosion and flooding based on physical processes, land value, and risk.

Terminal groyne syndrome – Coastal erosion that occurs down-drift of a groyne or other coastal defence due to sediment being trapped upstream.

Do nothing – A shoreline management option where no active intervention takes place, allowing natural processes to occur.

Advance the line – A management approach aiming to extend the coastline seawards through land reclamation or beach building.

Stakeholder – Any individual or group with an interest in how the coastline is managed (e.g. homeowners, farmers, environmental groups, local councils).