Practice coursework Introduction

摘要： The field work question that I am doing is : “To what extent is coastal management effecti...

The field work question that I am doing is : “To what extent is coastal management effective at protecting the land at East Coast Park?

My initial hypothesis to this question is that:  “the coastal management at East Coast Park is not effective.” and that the continuing coastal erosion that is changing the land at ECP are mainly done by constructive waves formed by the small fetch at the East Coast Park in Singapore.

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The main reason why I had taken this coursework is because of effective management of East Coast really matters. Many important and expensive infrastructure and buildings are built at East Coast. If it is not managed, there will be huge economic losses from the destruction of the buildings, the decrease in foreign visitors. There is also going to be severe consequences in the local ecosystem from the disturbance of the natural environment if buildings collapse into the sea. In order to prevent all of these, East coast have to be managed.

How did the coastal erosion happen and how were the sand lost? When coastal erosion takes place, rocks and sands are washed away by the waves by the processes of attrition, hydraulic action, solution, and abrasion. Sand is usually lost during long shore drift, which happens when the wind is blowing on the waves in a direction that is not perpendicular to the coastline and gradually wash the sand side waves, until it comes to a sharp turn on the coastline and the sands that were carried in the waves are deposited to form a spit. These are probably carried out by constructive waves since Singapore is a small island and not far from Malaysia. The small fetch of the sea can only form constructive waves, which are gentle and short, instead of destructive waves, which is relatively taller and stronger. Coastal erosion and long shore drift can be stopped or eased by effective coastal management, hard or soft. Hard engineering management like building sea walls and rock groynes can stop the waves when they are approaching the beaches and protect the sands from being washed away. Soft engineering management such as beach nourishment and planting plants around an island also helps. These methods are more sustainable than hard engineering management.