Physical Fieldwork: Rivers & Coasts
This lesson covers the general fieldwork skills, terminology, and exam-paper expectations that apply to every student. The specific sites, data, and methods your class actually used will be different — for the case study you’ll write about in the exam, refer to your teacher’s notes and the data you collected on the day.
Why Physical Fieldwork Matters
Physical fieldwork forces geography out of the textbook and into the field. The exam asks about your own fieldwork and also sets an unfamiliar fieldwork scenario in a UK river or coastal landscape, so you must be able to design, carry out, present or evaluate that kind of investigation. Write about your own physical investigation by name — the river, the coast, the date, the conditions — and to apply the same logic to scenarios you have never seen.
The six stages of the geographical enquiry process are: 1) formulate questions, 2) choose methods, 3) collect data, 4) present and process, 5) analyse and conclude, 6) evaluate.
Option 7A: River Landscapes
If your school chose a river investigation, the broad task is the same: investigate change in a river channel. A typical question is ‘How does the river channel change downstream?’ or ‘Does the river fit the Bradshaw model?’ The Bradshaw model predicts that as you move downstream, the channel widens and deepens, velocity increases, and the load becomes smaller and rounder — you test these claims at three or more sites along the river.
Edexcel requires at least one quantitative method to measure river discharge — the standard combination is width (tape measure across the channel), depth (metre rule at intervals across) and velocity (a flow meter or a floating object timed over 10 m). Discharge is then calculated as cross-sectional area × mean velocity. Edexcel also requires at least one qualitative method — usually annotated field sketches or labelled photographs that record the meanders, riffles, pools or human features at each site.
Random sampling avoids bias but can miss key features. Systematic sampling — for example a measurement every 100 m — is easy to plan but may straddle a meander or weir. Stratified sampling deliberately picks one point from each section (upper, middle, lower course) so the data represents the whole river. Most fieldwork uses systematic with a stratified element. Whatever you choose, write the reason in your method.
Option 7A: Coastal Landscapes
If your school chose the coast, the task is to investigate coastal processes through landscape evidence. Common questions are ‘Does longshore drift transport sediment along this beach?’ or ‘Does sediment become smaller and rounder along the beach?’ Edexcel requires one quantitative method to measure beach morphology and sediment characteristics — typically beach profiles taken with a clinometer and ranging poles, plus pebble samples measured with callipers and Powers’ roundness chart. A second quantitative option is timing oranges or table-tennis balls along the shore to measure longshore drift velocity.
The qualitative method is usually labelled field sketches of cliffs, groynes, beach huts or sea walls, or photographs annotated with arrows showing wave direction and human structures. Both methods together let you connect process (waves and current) to landform (beach shape and sediment) — exactly what the exam expects.
Risks & Practical Constraints
A risk assessment is part of the enquiry process. River fieldwork carries the risk of slippery banks, fast flows after rain and Weil’s disease from contact with rat urine in the water; coastal fieldwork carries cliff falls, rip currents, slippery rocks and tides cutting off access. Mitigations include checking river-level gauges and tide tables, working in groups, wearing wellies and gloves, and never wading above knee depth. You may be asked how risks were managed. A specific answer, such as ‘we checked the Environment Agency river-level gauge that morning’, is worth far more than ‘we were careful’.
Secondary Data
Edexcel requires secondary data alongside your primary measurements. For rivers, that includes an Environment Agency flood risk map and one other source — for example, a hydrograph showing recent rainfall and discharge, or historical Ordnance Survey maps to show channel change. For coasts, the British Geological Survey’s online Geology of Britain viewer gives the rock type at each site and one other source might be a Shoreline Management Plan or aerial photograph of cliff retreat. Secondary data lets you set your fieldwork in a wider context — one day’s data is rarely enough on its own.
A common question is ‘Justify one method used in your fieldwork.’ The trick is to link the method back to the original question. If your question is ‘Does the channel widen downstream?’, measuring channel width with a tape directly answers it — you cannot tell from a sketch alone. If your question is ‘Does sediment become rounder downstream?’, callipers and a roundness chart give numerical evidence; a photograph cannot. Always write your justification in two parts: what the method measures, and how that answers your question.
For physical fieldwork you must include at least one quantitative method (discharge or beach morphology), one qualitative method (sketches or annotated photographs), and at least two secondary sources. Always link methods back to the enquiry question.