Location

The field study was conducted at Las Cuevas Bay on the North Coast of Trinidad.
Aim
This SBA aims to explain and investigate the effects that wave action has on the coastline of Las
Cuevas Bay along the North Coast of Trinidad.
Method of Data Collection

Where: The field study was conducted at Las Cuevas Bay on the North Coast of Trinidad.

When: The field study was done on Thursday November the 2nd 2017 between the hours
of 8:00am to 1:30pm.

How:
1.Sketch of study area:
A sketch of the Bay was done based on the observations that was made by the student researcher
when the study was being conducted.

2.Wave count and observation of wave action:

Two separate groups of three persons each was situated on the western and eastern side of the
Bay. One of the students within each group was responsible for setting a timer while the other
counted and recorded the waves. This was done at one-minute intervals for an entire minute with
one-minute rest between them.

3.Beach Profile:
A group of five persons co-operated to record the beach profile. A meter rule was placed upright
on the sand from the backshore, a six-foot rope was then placed on top of the meter rule and
pulled from the rule until the water (sea level). At one-foot intervals from the backshore to the
water mark, the difference in height from the rope and the ground was measured and recorded.

4.Sand sampling:
Sand samples were collected from three parts of the beach and labelled sample A, sample B and
sample C. Sample A was collected closest to the water, sample B was collected from the middle
shore of the Bay and sample C was collected the furthest away from the water.
Presentation and Analysis of Data

Located on the North Coast of Trinidad. Las Cuevas is only several hours away from the Capital
city of Port of Spain. This is one of the reason why this Bay is a famous tourist attraction in
Trinidad. All of the data presented in this SBA was obtained from Las Cuevas Bay on November
2nd 2017. This S.B.A. was done on coastal erosion and so Las Cuevas was seen as a place of
interest since it is a Bay that is affected by coastal erosion. Coastal erosion involves the breaking
and removal of material along a coastline by the movement of wind and waves. A wave Count
was done to show the types of waves present. There were two types of waves: Constructive an

Fig 1.0 Constructive Waves Fig 1.1 Destructive Waves

A study was done on the actions of the waves. The following bar chart is a condensation of the
data collected on the day we visited the Bay. It is a comparison of the number of waves which
occurred at one-minute intervals on both the western and the eastern sides of the Bay.

Fig. 1.2 Wave Count.

As seen from the bar chart the most prominent types of waves are Destructive waves