Save Our Beaches: Man-Made vs. Natural Erosion Prevention Solutions

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this study is to determine whether man-made or natural structures are more effective at preventing beach erosion. Methods/Materials 3 plastic bins, beach sand, small rocks, Ceanothus plant, water, and scale. Erosion was simulated for 3 conditions: small rocks with sand, Ceanothus plant with sand, and sand only. The degree of erosion was then assessed by measuring the weight of sand "eroded" in each of the 3 conditions. Results The man-made rock seawall's ability to reduce erosion was tested against the native Ceanothus' plants ability to reduce erosion. After three trials, it was determined that the rock seawall reduced erosion by seven fold while the Ceanothus plant reduced erosion by four fold. Conclusions/Discussion It was concluded that both the seawall and the native plant had a positive impact in preventing erosion. However, the man-made rock seawall was determined to be more effective than the natural Ceanothus plant in preventing beach erosion.

Competition history

• CSEF 2016 Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0805

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Earth and Environmental Sciences projects
• CSEF Earth and Environmental Sciences projects
• Every CSEF 2016 project