© Nuffield Foundation 2011

Nuffield Mathematics Activities

Coastal erosion B Integrating area

© Nuffield Foundation 2011

Disappearing coasts‘Understanding how our coasts are eroded is vital in a future of climate change and sea level rise’ – Catherine Poulton

coastal sedimentologist, British Geological Survey

© East Riding Council

© Nuffield Foundation 2011

There is a variable rate of land erosion at different points on the coastline.

How can we estimate how much land will be lost over a period of time?

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To compare and compute a variety of methods for approximating areas/integrals use the Shodor Interactivate: InteGreat!

www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/Integrate/

© Nuffield Foundation 2011

Explore more at

www.coastalexplorer.eastriding.gov.uk

www.hull.ac.uk/erosion

www.bgs.ac.uk/

News item on Holbeck Hall Hotel collapse

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7438211.stm

© Nuffield Foundation 2011

Reflect on your work

What features of the coastline indicate whether a quadratic or a cubic function is likely to give the better fit?

What methods could you use to find models?

How would you decide which was the best model?

Describe how integration can be used to estimate land loss due to coastal erosion.