Title:  Longshore Drift

Location:  Any sandy or pebbled beach

Aims:

• To observe the process of longshore drift.

• To check whether different sized pebbles are transported at different rates.

 Equipment:

• 10 poles           

• measuring tape

• environmental friendly coloured spray

•  stopwatch/watch

• 3-5 different sized pebbles

Method:                              

1. Insert the poles vertically onto the shore very close to the water.  These have to be 1m apart.

2. Spray 3-5 different sized pebbles  with different colours.

3. Place these pebbles in the sea water next to the first pillar.

4. Check the position of the pebbles at 15 minutes intervals  (for 1 or 2 hours).  Record these readings.

5. Here is a list of questions that might help you during the analysis:

• What do you notice about the waves?  In which angle are they breaking on the shore?

•   What happened to the pebbles?  Why?

• What is this process called?

• Did the same thing happen to all the pebbles?

• From what you have seen, do you think that the pebble size made any differences? Why?

Conclusion:

• Draw your own conclusions and write a report on your observations.  Remember to include all your primary data in the report.

Further tips:

• Record your readings on a table such as in this example:  

Recommendations:

• When choosing the location you want to study keep in mind how you will be arriving there, at what time of the day you’ll be going, in which season and day. 

• Avoid doing fieldworks alone.

• Make sure that no one touches the pebbles once the fieldwork is being carried out.