Year 10 Monday 28/2: Summarising the TRESB Project

1. The problem which lead to the TRESB Project. The problem occured when the breakwater was continuously extended to try and stop the Tweed River entrance from silting up. The breakwater however trapped sand that would usually move south and so it caused the river mouth to silt up.
2. The solution to the problem. The solution was a sand pumping station that pumped the sand through conduits to the beaches nearby.
3. The result of the project. What areas were effected and how? Do you think that it was a success? The result was that the Tweed River no longer silted up and the local beaches got the sand they needed for beach nourishment. I think it was a great success.

Year 10: Coastal Management - The Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing Project

1.Why did it become necessary to extend the Tweed River breakwaters? It became necessary to extend the breakwaters because over time sand would build up on the south side of the breakwaters and then silt up the river mouth.
2.What impact would the construction of the breakwaters have had on the replenishment of sand to the Gold Coast beaches after severe storm erosion? The breakwaters would have stopped sand moving to the Gold Coast beaches and so the storm erosion would not be repaired naturally. Instead it has to be dredged and then trucked all the way to those beaches, this costs a lot more than just letting the sand sand get to those beaches through long shore drift.
3.Why did the Tweed River become unsafe to shipping? Explain the natural process that caused sandbars to form over the mouth of the Tweed River The Tweed River became unsafe for shipping because sand kept accumulating at the river mouth. Longshore drift was taking sand up the coast but then it would be stopped at the breakwater and so the sand would just accumulate at that spot. This caused sandbars to form at the river mouth.
4.Why was the dredging of the Tweed River and the associated beach nourishment program only a short term solution to coastal management of the area It was only a short term solution because it was expensive and would need to occur continually and very regularly to make sure the beaches had a sand supply and boats had a safe entrance into the river.
5. Describe the way the TRESBP replaces the natural process of longshore drift The TRESBP pumps the sand from where it has accumulated and sends it to the beaches on the Gold Coast. This replicates longshore drift in that it moves the sand up the coast.
6. Write a paragraph that explains your opinion of the TRESBP. Why do you think the project is regarded as one of the most successful coastal management scheme in Australia? I think the TRESBP is very well done and is doing a great job at making sure the Tweed River doesn't silt up and that the Gold Coast beaches have sand to replenish the beaches. I think that it is one of the most successful because it is doing everything it is supposed to be doing and nothing has gone majorly wrong with the system they have employed.

7. Draw an annotated map to explain the operation of the TRESBP

8. Look at the aerial photographs in 7.28. Describe the changes that have occurred to the mouth of the Tweed River since 1962. The distance the water travels up the beach has stayed the same but the distance up the beach on the right hand side has retreated significantly. 
9. Using the topographic map in 7.25 on on page 164, estimate the length of the breakwater along the Tweed River entrance in 1962 and in 1994. 100m

Maverick Waves in Cactus Beach, South Australia

 

Cactus Beach found far south in South Australia is very isolated and known only to surfers, because of this there aren't many surfers there during the week or week-end. The swells start working from 3ft to 5ft and can carry to 16+ft heights. At this beach however there are dangers from White Pointer Sharks, urchins and rocks. These waves are pretty fast and this partly caused because of the sea floor which is a reef (coral, sharp rocks etc) with sand. With the sea floor being that random and erratic in the different levels due to the coral and rocks the energy from a wave woill be forced up depending on these heights and the waves are rather erratic.

Year 10 Monday 21/2: The Science of Big Waves

Pre-viewing:

1. Where do ocean waves come from? What gets them started? Ocean waves come from storms out at sea that have strong winds that cause swells which then cause the waves.
2. What do you think a surfer should know about waves before they try and ride a wave while surfing? They should know what kind of wave they are facing. They should try and learn this kind of stuff so that they are better prepared for when they try and surf these waves.

Question for the Video:

1. Observe all the waves that you see and describe how they form and break. Use as many words found in the segment for your descriptions. Maverick waves form out around the Gulf of Alaska due to storms out there that have very strong winds. These waves will only form correctly when the low and high pressure zones are in the right position and sent the waves the correct direction to the surfing location.
2. Describe how waves are formed, how they originate, and how they are measured? They are formed when storms out at sea cause these waves to start when energy from things like wind, transfer energy into wave movement. They are measured through the wavelength (distance between high points of different waves), period (the time between the crest between each wave), and wave height (the height of the wave measured from the distance between the elevations of a crest and a neighboring trough).
3. What is a maverick wave and what is special about the way it is formed? A maverick wave is a wave at the surfing location in Northern California. They only happen when the conditions are right and they originate in The Wave Factory around the Gulf of Alaska. As the waves come to shore they can be refracted by rocks and all their energy is concentrated into one spot.
4. How is energy stored and transferred during wave? The energy just keeps on going until it hits something but as the sea floor starts to rise that energy is forced up and forces the wave to become taller. The energy is transferred by spinning its way to whatever it will hit.
5. List any kind of advice given by the surfers about how to survive these “big waves.” Respect the wave. If you decide to catch a wave you should go in and catch it before it starts to crash and stay ahead of the part of the wave that is crashing.

7.5 Coastal Management on the Gold Coast

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7 Express the scale of the map as a statement: One centimetre on the map represents kilometres on the ground. one centimetre on the map represents 250m on the ground.

8 What is the contour interval of the map? 10m

9 Calculate the following:

a the width of the mouth of the Tweed River 250m

b the length of the breakwater on the southern side of the Tweed River 2.25km

c the length of the jetty extending into the ocean from the sand pumping station in AR 5483 50m

d the distance along the beach from the lookout at Greenmount Hill to the Rainbow Bay surf club 500m

e the time it would take you to walk along the beach from the Rainbow Bay surf club to the Coolangatta Beach surf club if you were walking at a speed of 5 kilometres per hour. 15 minutes

10 Which is higher, the lighthouse at Point Danger or the lookout on Kirra Hill? the lighthouse

11 What is the aspect of the slope where the electricity substation is located in AR 5283? Westerly aspect

12 What is the approximate height of the small electricity substation in AR 5283? Roughly 20m

13 Name the human features located at the following grid references:

a 532824 secondary paved road

b 536823 Bridge

c 541844 Lighthouse

d 513834 Border Park Raceway

e 528819 Caravan Park

f 532828 Jetties

14 Name the natural features located at the following grid references:

a 524818 Boyd's Island

b 537822 Terranora Inlet

c 514844 Beach

d 521833 Mount Murraba

e 544817 Sandy Island

f 544839 Mouth of Tweed River;.

15 Refer to 7.24 and the topographic map. Give the grid reference of the lookout that the photographer was standing at when the photograph was taken. 522842

16 What is the density of buildings in AR 5483? low density

17 Which area has the greatest density of buildings per square kilometre—AR 5281 or 5282? Give a reason for your answer. 5282 has a much higher density. Where 5281 only covers half the grid square, 5281 covers a lot more of the grid square and has a the same density of buildings as 5281 did. So with the same density but covering am much larger area 5282 is a the more dense area.

18 Estimate the bearing of the following features from the water tank on the top of Mount Murraba:

a the groyne at Kirra Point North30degreesWest

b the mouth of the Tweed River North60degrees East

c Boyds Island South15degreesEast

d Snapper Rocks * North45degreesEast

Year 10: 7.3 Geographical Processes Shaping the Coastal Environment

1. 7.7 Waves are refracted an energy is concentrated around headlands and more dispersed along beacjes located in bays.

2. 

Tombolo

Coastal Lagoon

Sea cave

Headland and Sea stacks

Blowhole

Sand Spit

Sand Dunes

Offshore Sand Bar

Natural Bridge

3.

4. 

Year 10: 7.2 Waves - Water on the Move

Coastal Management Questions 7.1

1. People in Australia really only live in the coastal areas of it.This means that the coastal environment of Australia takes a big hit from urbanisation. As the population grows there is more need for development and that usually leads to construction of new living spaces to facilitate the growing population. This can also lead to inappropriate development.
2. Because the coastal areas of Australia are really the only place that people can live in and so it is important that the coast is taken care of so that people can continue to live there.
3. "Sea Change" is the name of a trend where people try to escape city life and live in rural communities. This causes a boom in tourism and real estate in coastal Australia.
4. Some of the towns affected by this have introduced residential caps to try and stop over development of the area.
5. Inappropriate Development - more people wanting to live right on the coast have caused too much construction in the coastal areas.
Tourism and Recreational Pressures - lots of people want to go the beach and other coastal areas for fu and recreational purposes and the local industry and coastal areas can only take so much.
Population Growth - As Australia's population grows more houses need to be built to facilitate them and the rising number of people wanting to live in smaller coastal towns rather than the city.
Pollution - Where there are people there will be rubbish. The more people there are the more rubbish will be left in the area.
6. Geographers play the role of the educated person. They are experts in their field of work and know best what to do in situations when developing management strategies.

7b. Dear Editor

I have lived in this area for a very long tie and I am very upset at the recent developments on our beach front. The apartment buildings they have just constructed on the beach front are far too tall and are an eyesore on the beach. Furthermore they block the sun out later in the afternoon and there is nothing that we can do about it. The problem is is that with this construction having been allowed to happen it will now encourage other developers to build on the beach front and soon the beach might not even be recognisable because of all the ridiculously tall buildings. I hope that the local council will stop anymore attempts to build on our beach.

Regards
A concerned local