A Tauranga student's award winning geography essay is warning the swell at Mount Maunganui Main Beach could be in trouble.
Year 12 Otumoetai College student Sam Twyman submitted his research essay on the seasonal change of Mount Maunganui Main Beach for a nationwide Year 13 geography research competition and won first equal.

Year 12 Otumoetai College student Sam Twyman at Mount Maunganui Main Beach.

One of his essay's findings was that human activity such as dredging, residential development and planting can affect the size of the beach and even the size of the waves.
'The beach won't change significantly overtime because it's a dynamic system, as long as humans don't interfere with it,” says Sam.
He found the dredging of sand from Tauranga's harbour and its deposit offshore from the main beach is increasing the beach's size.
'If the beach gets bigger, it can interfere with the type of waves that come in. It can disrupt the waves that come in and how big they are,” says Sam.
His research essay also suggests the closer buildings are constructed to the main beach, the less sand will be eroded and the bigger the beach will become.
Sam originally submitted his essay for an internal geography assessment at school, which gained an excellence grade.
He took measurements from the beach in winter and summer as part of his research and found its gradient and width varies during the seasons.
'In summer, the waves are constructive. They don't have as much force so sand is easily deposited on the beach.
But in winter the sand is more destructive and then its eroded and transported to an offshore bar about 35 metres to 40 metres offshore,” says Sam.
The 17 year old says he was pretty ecstatic when he found out his hard work researching the essay had paid off.
'I like geography because of the way it explains how the world was created and why things are there and why things are not in other places,” says Sam.