Hard E (coasts)

• Sea wall - concrete walls that are placed at the foot of a cliff to prevent erosion. They are curved to reflect energy back into the sea.

  Adv. - effective at protecting the base of a cliff, sea walls usually have promenades so people can walk on them

  Disadv. - Waves are still powerful and can break down and erode the wall, very expensive, £2000 per metre
• Rock armour - Large boulders placed at the foot of a cliff and they break the waves energy

  Adv. - cheaper than a sea wall and easy to maintian, can be used for fishing

  Disadv. - look different to local geology, the rocks are expensive to transport
• Gabion - rocks that are held in metal mesh cages and places in areas of erosion

  Adv. - cheap, £100 per metre, absorbs wave energy

  Disadv. Not very strong, looks unnatural
• Groynes - wooden or rock structures built at right angles into the sea

  Adv. - builds a beach that brings tourists, trap sediment being carried by longshore drift

  Disadv. - By trapping sediment it means it starves the beach further down increasing erosion rates further down, look unattractive.