Last weekend, the Lower Sixth Geographers took part in a range of fieldwork activities based at the Cranedale Field Studies Centre in Yorkshire. Friday was allocated to an urban study in the local market town of Malton. Working in pairs, the geographers successfully land-use mapped the town and then completed transects through the central business district looking at changes in the nature of building types and functions.
The weather was extremely kind to us on Saturday, allowing us to spend the whole day at the coast investigating coastal processes. During the morning we looked at coastal erosion between Skipsea and Ulrome, noticing that even more of the coast road had been lost to the North Sea waves over the past twelve months. This particular coastline has an average rate of erosion of 2 metres a year and forms a key case study at AS Level. The afternoon was spent on Selwicks Bay, completing a study of beach sediment and exploring the coastline. From the top of Flamborough Head, we were also able to soak up some of the sunshine before attempting field sketches of High Stacks.
On Sunday morning the weather changed, dropping 3-4inches of snow in a couple of hours. This unfortunately prevented us from travelling out to Dalby Beck to investigate river variables across meanders. However despite the weather, once we were dressed warmly in waterproofs and wellies, we were still able to complete much of the work from the field studies centre using the local stream instead. Given the cold, the lower sixth worked efficiently through the set tasks before retreating into the Common Room at lunchtime for a well-deserved hot chocolate.
As in past years, the Cranedale staff were immensely supportive in ensuring that we completed as many different fieldwork activities as possible to support our A Level syllabus. It was a tiring but thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
Please click here to see more photos from the trip.
Posted on
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
by NJC