Last week we went to Botany Bay in Broadstairs. When we arrived the weather was extremely windy and quite cold.
Firstly, we walked around the stack along the cliffs and identified how the cliff shapes were formed and erosion by the process of hydraulic action and abrasion. The bottom of the cliff was eroded, creating an arch, which had then collapsed, creating the stack. We completed a detailed sketch of this.
We then measured the beach profile before the tide came in, using poles, tape measure and the clinometer. Afterwards we studied the local area, human geography and houses.
After a hot chocolate break we measured the strength and direction of longshore drift by placing 2 poles 20 metres apart on the shore and standing halfway between them, throwing an orange into the sea and recording how long it took for it to travel 10 metres. We struggled with this task because the waves were so choppy and messy; we often lost track of the oranges before they reached 10 metres and our results were varied.
Then we continued a wave count, we counted how many waves broke in 3 minutes and calculated the average number per minute. The waves had a strong backwash and were steep and close together, which suggests that they were of a destructive nature.
Written by Eva Cannon, a student who attended this trip.
