The Coastal Fieldwork Task
Geographers do not just read about coasts, they go and measure them. Investigate how a real beach changes, using your own quantitative and qualitative data and the six-stage enquiry process.
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Down at the coast
Geographers do not just read about coasts, they go and measure them. In the coastal fieldwork task you investigate how a real beach changes, and collect your own data to answer a question. This module explores the methods you use and the enquiry process you follow.
Coastal fieldwork words
Four ideas run through this topic:
Measure or describe?
Which of these is a quantitative method in coastal fieldwork?
- Measuring the size of pebbles along the beach
- Sketching the shape of a cliff
- Describing how the beach looks
- Taking a photo of a headland
Two kinds of data
A good enquiry uses both kinds of data.
Match the stage
- Formulate a question
- Collect the data
- Present the data
- Draw a conclusion
- Decide what you want to find out
- Measure the beach and record landforms
- Draw graphs, maps and diagrams
- State what the evidence shows
Measuring a beach
To measure a beach profile, work up the beach in steps, measuring the gradient of each part with a clinometer and a tape. To study the sediment, measure the long axis of a sample of pebbles with calipers, and note how rounded they are. These give numbers you can compare.
Find the mean
To process your data you find an average. You measure five pebbles: 3, 5, 4, 6 and 2 cm. What is the mean pebble size, in cm?
On the beach
Which THREE would you do in a coastal fieldwork task?
- Measure the size of the pebbles
- Sketch the landforms you see
- Use a geology map as a secondary source
- Guess the results without measuring
- Ignore any data that surprises you
Pebble size along the beach
Longshore drift carries pebbles along a beach, and attrition wears them smaller. Starting from the given site, plot the mean pebble size at sites 2, 3 and 4 further along the beach.
The enquiry process
Put the six stages of a geographical enquiry in the right order.
- Formulate the enquiry question
- Choose methods and collect the data
- Process and present the data
- Analyse and explain the data
- Draw an evidenced conclusion
- Reflect on the enquiry and its limits
Complete the idea
In the coastal fieldwork task you collect your own _____ data by going out and measuring. Measuring the gradient and the _____ of the pebbles gives numbers to analyse. Sketching the cliffs and headlands gives _____ data. A geology map from the BGS is a _____ source. A good enquiry ends by drawing an evidenced _____.
True or not?
Tap the TWO statements that are TRUE about coastal fieldwork.
- Measuring pebble size is a quantitative method.
- A geology map is a secondary source of data.
- Sketching a cliff gives quantitative data.
- Primary data is data that someone else collected.
- A good enquiry skips drawing any conclusion.
Field choices
Choose the best method or source for each task.
- You want to measure the steepness of the beach. What do you use?
- You want to record the shape of a headland. Which method fits?
- You need to know what rock the cliffs are made of. What secondary source helps?
Plan the enquiry
Explain how you would carry out a fieldwork enquiry to investigate how the sediment on a beach changes along its length.
- State an enquiry question you could ask
- Give one quantitative method you would use
- Give one qualitative method you would use
- Explain how you would present and use the data