Geography K–10 · Years 9–10

Beach profile survey with two graduated poles and the horizon (Emery method)

Environmental change and management (ACARA Year 10 sub-strand); NSW Stage 5 focus area Environmental Change and Management (2015 syllabus) and Environmental change and management (2024 syllabus); coastal environment as the investigative study

Practical, model not builtMedium risk

School laboratory, not for home

In a school laboratory, with a teacher supervising, under the school's risk assessment. Not for home.

This site has no interactive model of its own. Where a step or a material names a Concept Studio model, simulation or tool, it has not been built; an external simulation a step names (for example PhET) is not part of this site.

The idea

A beach's shape changes with waves and storms, and repeated profiles along a fixed line measure where sand has been lost or gained and by how much.

Safety card

Medium riskA teacher supervises

Setting: In a school laboratory, with a teacher supervising, under the school's risk assessment. Not for home.

Hazards

waves and rips at the water line
sun and heat
eroded dune scarps that can collapse

Controls

no one past ankle depth; a spotter watches the sea; no survey in large surf
hats, sunscreen, water
stay off scarps and use formed dune access tracks

Note

Beach fieldwork is run under the school excursion risk assessment; RiskAssess (riskassess.com.au) holds a fieldwork template. No chemicals are used.

What you need

2 poles 1.5 m long marked every 1 cm downward from the top, 0 at the top (Emery rods), so the number read is the height change
A 1 m chain or tape to set the spacing; a compass; a phone with GPS
A fixed control point behind the dune (a surveyed mark, a fence post or a stake) and a second point to set the line
A line level on a taut string, or a clinometer, for the steps between the control point and the first station from which the sea horizon can be seen: behind the dune the dune itself hides the horizon, so those steps cannot be levelled by sighting it
Record sheet with columns: station, horizontal distance (m), elevation change (+ or − cm), the method used for the step (horizon sighting or line level), notes (dune crest, berm, water line and time)
The Bureau of Meteorology tide prediction for the nearest port on the survey day

How to do it

Stand rod 1 at the control point and rod 2 1 m seaward on the line set by the two control points; keep both vertical. Look from rod 1 for the sea horizon: behind the dune it is hidden, so level every step from the control point up to the first station where the horizon can be seen with the line level on the taut string (or with a clinometer sighted on the rod), and mark each of those steps on the sheet with the method used, so that all elevations are still tied to the fixed control point.
From the landward rod, line up the top of the lower rod with the horizon and read the mark on the other rod where that line of sight crosses it. Record the change as negative when the ground falls towards the sea (the reading is on rod 1) and positive when it rises (the reading is on rod 2).
Move rod 1 to rod 2's footprint and rod 2 a further 1 m seaward; repeat. Shorten a step to land a rod on a feature (dune toe, berm crest) and record the actual distance.
Continue to the water line; record the time so the tide height can be looked up.
Add the changes to get elevation relative to the control point at each station; plot elevation against distance.
Repeat the same line after a storm or each month, and compute the area between two profiles (m² of cross-section, which is m³ of sand per metre of beach).

What you should see

A profile graph with the dune, berm, beach face and water line labelled, and, after a repeat survey, a gain or loss of sand in m³ per metre of beach. After a storm the berm is expected to be cut back and the upper beach lower, since coastal erosion is often associated with storms (Geoscience Australia); repeat surveys show whether and how fast the beach rebuilds. Arithmetic check: steps of −20, −15 and −30 cm over three 1 m steps put the third station 0.65 m below the start, a slope of 0.217 (12.2 degrees). It worked if every step has a sign and a method, the steps levelled with the line level rather than by sighting the horizon are flagged as such, and the water line has a recorded time.

What changes

What you change: date of survey (before and after a storm, or month)
What you measure: elevation at each station (m); cross-section area change (m³ per m of beach)
What you keep the same: same control points and line bearing
1 m spacing
same rods and readers

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

A beach has the same shape all year.
Sand lost in a storm is gone for good.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

Geography K–10 Syllabus (2015), NESA; current and taught in 2026, replaced from 2027. The outcome codes are not printed on the NESA landing page for this syllabus, which only links the document, so the url given is the syllabus document itself (geography-k-10-syllabus-2015.docx); the code and its outcome text were read in that document on 23 September 2026.GE5-2 GE5-5 GE5-7
Geography 7–10 Syllabus (2024), NESA; implementation from 2027, not yet taught; code read on this page on 22 September 2026GE5-PRI-01 GE5-MAN-01 GE5-TAP-01
Australian Curriculum v9AC9HG10K04AC9HG10S02AC9HG10S03

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

All Concept Studio activities