Eduqas GCSE (9-1) Geography A (C111) · Spec 4.1 and 4.2
Theme 4: coastal hazards and their management
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- In Component 1 Section B you answer on Theme 3 or Theme 4, not both. This page is for Theme 4.
- Coastal communities are vulnerable because of physical factors (soft rock, low-lying land, storm surges) and human factors (building on the coast, few defences, poverty).
- Climate change raises flood risk in two ways: it raises sea level, and it brings more frequent and more severe storms.
- Hard engineering includes sea walls, rock armour, groynes and offshore reefs. Soft engineering includes beach nourishment, dune regeneration and salt-marsh creation.
- Hold the line is costly and needs constant repair. Managed realignment (also called managed retreat) lets the sea flood land on purpose to make a natural buffer such as salt marsh, but farmland is lost.
- Flood warnings and evacuation routes reduce the impact of a flood without changing the hazard.
Key terms
- Hard engineering
- Built structures such as sea walls, rock armour and groynes that block or absorb waves.
- Soft engineering
- Working with nature, such as adding sand or regrowing dunes and salt marsh.
- Groyne
- A barrier built out from the shore that traps sediment moved by longshore drift.
- Managed realignment
- Letting the sea flood an area on purpose, often to create a natural defence. Also called managed retreat.
- Shoreline Management Plan
- A plan that sets a policy for each stretch of coast, such as hold the line.
- Storm surge
- A rise in sea level caused by low pressure and strong winds during a storm.
Common mistakes
- Saying climate change raises coastal flood risk only by melting ice. Stronger and more frequent storms matter too.
- Saying hold the line fixes a flooding problem for good. It needs costly, constant maintenance.
- Mixing up soft engineering with hard engineering. Beach nourishment and dune regeneration are soft; sea walls and offshore reefs are hard.
- Linking human factors to climate change. Human factors are things like poverty, few defences and choosing to live in low-lying places.
Exam tip
An Explain 4-marker rewards two linked ideas. A Justify or How far do you agree 8-marker needs both sides and a decision. If you give no alternative view, your answer cannot get above band 2.
Free practice questions
5 questions, 15 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Climate change raises coastal flood risk by melting ice and raising mean sea level. Which is the other way it raises the risk?
- Question 2 · True or false[4 marks]
Decide whether each statement is true or false.
1. The Thames Barrier has 10 movable gates.
2. The Thames Barrier spans a river stretch about 520 m wide.
3. Hold the line fixes a flooding problem for good and needs no maintenance.
4. More people died in England than in the Netherlands in the 1953 North Sea flood.
- Question 3 · Matching[4 marks]
Match each coastal engineering scheme to how it reduces erosion or flooding.
- Question 4 · Sort into groups[4 marks]
Sort each scheme into hard engineering or soft engineering.
Offshore reef
Sea wall
Salt-marsh creation
Dune regeneration
- Question 5 · Choose more than one[2 marks]
Which TWO are emergency-planning or warning measures that reduce the impact of a coastal flood?
Choose 2.