BeachesBy Teresa Cogar and Melinda CarpenterIntroduction: Almost one-fourth of all the structures that have been built within 150 m of the

US coastline, including the Great Lakes, will be lost to beach erosion over the next 60 years, according to a June 2000 report released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The supply of sand for most beaches has been cut off by dams built on rivers and streams that would otherwise carry sand to the sea. Waves generated by storms also erode beaches. Longshore currents, which are generated by waves that break at angles to a shoreline, transport sediment continuously and change the shape of a shoreline.

You will now observe a series of models. These models will help you understand how beaches can be both washed away and protected from the effects of waves and longshore currents.

Objective: A lesson to examine model of how forces generated by wave action build, shape, and erode beaches.

Hypothesize ways in which beaches can be preserved from the erosive forces of wave activity.

Content Standards:

WV S.9.ESS.10

NxGen HS-ESS2-5

Students will be able to plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.

Materials:

-Metric ruler (1 per group)

-Small empty milk cartons (2 per group)

-Pebbles (about 2 handfuls per group)

-Plaster of Paris (enough to fill both milk cartons)

-Paint tray or 13x 9 pan or plastic container (1 per group)

-Small rocks (5-6 per group)

-Sand (5-10lbs total)

-Water (about a gallon per group)

-Large wooden block (1 per group, chalkboard eraser size)

-Bucket with filter or cheesecloth over it to filter out sand from water after trials

Procedure, Analysis, Conclusion, and Extension are from Holt Environmental Science by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Introduction Modified by Melinda Carpenter and Teresa Cogar for the 2016 WVSTA Earth & Space Science Share-a-thon.