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Geography > Glossary -> Coastal systems and landscapes > Flashcards

Glossary -> Coastal systems and landscapes Flashcards

1
Q

abrasion

A

sediment dragged up and down shoreline, eroding and smoothing rocks

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2
Q

accretion

A

coastal sediment being deposited on a beach making it wider

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3
Q

arch

A

an arch-shaped rock formation created when two caves join up/single cave eroded all the way through

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4
Q

attrition

A

sediment erode each other through impact, as they are moved by waves, tides and currents

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5
Q

bar

A

where a beach or spit extends across a bay to join two headlands

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6
Q

barrier island

A

where a beach becomes separated from the mainland

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7
Q

berm

A

a ridge or plateau on the beach formed by the deposition of beach material by wave action

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8
Q

biological weathering

A

the breakdown of rocks by organic activity

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9
Q

cave

A

a chamber in the rock formed when joints and faults are eroded by hydraulic action and abrasion

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10
Q

cavitation

A

when a wave advances and air becomes trapped and compressed in joints in the rock or between a breaking wave and a cliff

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11
Q

climatic climax community

A

the final community of a species which is adjusted to the climatic conditions of an area

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12
Q

coastal morphology

A

the origin and evolution of a coast

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13
Q

compound spit

A

a spit which has a series of ‘barbs’ along it, formed where the transport processes are variable over time

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14
Q

constructive wave

A

a powerful wave with a strong swash that surges up the beach usually forming a berm

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15
Q

corrasion

A

when material that has been picked up by the wave gets hurled at the cliff foot as the waves break, thus chipping away at the rock

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16
Q

coast-benefit analysis (CBA)

A

a process by which the financial, social and environmental coasts are weighed up against the benefits of a proposal in terms of social outcomes as well as in terms of profit and loss

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17
Q

cusp

A

crescent-shaped beach formations with graded sediment; coarse material collects at the ‘horns’ and finer material collects in the ‘bay’ area

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18
Q

Dalmatian coast

A

a submergent landscape of ridges and valleys running parallel to the coast

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19
Q

destructive wave

A

a wave formed by a local storm that crashes onto a beach and has a powerful backwash

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20
Q

double spit

A

when two spits extent from opposites sides of an estuary

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21
Q

drift-aligned beach

A

formed when beach deposits are transferred along a coastline by longshore drift, and accumulate to form a wide beach at a headland where the lateral drift is interrupted

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22
Q

emergent coastline

A

a coastline created when a fall in sea level exposed land previously covered by the sea

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23
Q

environmental refugee

A

somebody who has been forced to migrate as a result of changes to the environment

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24
Q

eustatic change

A

variations in relative sea level resulting from changes in the amount of liquid water entering the oceans (glacial meltwater)

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25
Q

fjord

A

created when a rise in sea level floods a deep glacial trough

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26
Q

halophyte

A

a salt-tolerant plant species

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27
Q

hard-engineering

A

human-made, artificial structures which are designed to protect the land from erosion

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28
Q

high-energy environments/coastlines

A

coastlines with powerful waves where rates of erosion exceed rates of deposition

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29
Q

hydraulic action

A

the sheer force of the water as it crashes against a coastline

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30
Q

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

A

a strategy designed to manage complete sections of the coast, rather than individual towns or villages, by bringing together all of those involved in the development, management and use of the coat

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31
Q

isostatic change

A

rising or falling of a land mass relative to the sea resulting from the release of the weight of ice after the last ice age or by the weight of sediment being deposited

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32
Q

isostatic recovery

A

when the land readjusts and rises as a results of the reduced weight of ice following the end of a glacial period

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33
Q

isostatic subsidence

A

when the land sinks during glacial periods because of the enormous weight of ice sheetsla

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34
Q

landform

A

individual components or a landscape (cliff, beach, wave-cut platform)

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35
Q

landscape

A

a broad area usually consisting of several different landforms

36
Q

landslide

A

when a block of rock moves very rapidly downhill along a planar surface (slide plane), often a bedding plane that is roughly parallel to the ground serface

37
Q

landslip (slump)

A

when a block of land moves very rapidly downhill but its slide surface is curved rather than flat, characterised by a sharp break of slope and the formation of a scar

38
Q

lithology

A

the geological structure of an area

39
Q

longshore (littoral) drift

A

when the different angles of swash and backwash cause a zigzag movement of sediment up and down the beach

40
Q

low-energy environments/coastlines

A

coastlines with caves of relatively low power where rate of deposition exceed rates of erosion

41
Q

mass movement

A

the downhill movement of material under the influence of gravity

42
Q

mudflat

A

formed in low-energy environments (river estuaries in the lee of spits), where the very smallest clay particles drop to the seabed and build up layer of mud

43
Q

mudflow

A

involves earth and mud flowing downhill, usually over unconsolidated or weak bedrock (clay, often after heavy rainfall)

44
Q

offshore bars

A

submerged ridges of sand or coarse sediment created by waves offshore from the coast

45
Q

pioneer species

A

the first plants that colonise an area, usually with special adaptations

46
Q

raised beach

A

the result of isostatic recovery which raises wave-cut platforms and their beaches above the present sea level

47
Q

recurved tip

A

the end of a spit that has curved round, as wave refraction carries material round into the more sheltered water behind the spit

48
Q

ria

A

a sheltered winding inlet with irregular shoreline

49
Q

rip currents

A

strong localised underwater currents that occur on some beaches

50
Q

rockfall

A

involved the sudden collapse or breaking away of individual rock fragments at a cliff face

51
Q

runnels

A

the drips in the foreshore area of a beach between ridges. They are drained down the beach by channels that break the ridges

52
Q

saltation

A

rocks or sand that is moved in a series of leaps across a river or sea bed or the desert floor

53
Q

saltmarsh

A

coastal ecosystem formed on mudflats (in a river estuary) largely comprising salt-tolerant plants

54
Q

sand dune

A

a depositions feature consisting of sand that has been blown off the beach by onshore winds

55
Q

scree

A

an apron of rock debris, caused by weathering and then slow rates of debris removal

56
Q

sediment budget

A

an attempt to quantify the various stores and transfers associated with sediment movements

57
Q

sediment cell

A

a conceptual way of describing sediment movement from a source, through various transfers to a sink or output. This movement is usually cyclical

58
Q

Shoreline Management Plan (SMP)

A

a plan that takes into consideration the risks of coastal processes and attempts to identify sustainable coastal defence and management options

59
Q

slump (landslip)

A

when a block of land moves very rapidly downhill but its slide surface is curved rather than flat, characterised by a sharp break of slop and the formation of a scar

60
Q

soft-engineering

A

attempts to work with natural processes in order to protect coasts and manage changes in sea level

61
Q

soil creep

A

an extremely slop form of movement of individual soil particles downhill

62
Q

solifuction

A

specific to cold periglacial environments. It is the downhill flow of saturated soil, caused when the surface layer thaws out but lies on top of impermeable frozen ground

63
Q

solution (dissolved load)

A

chemical dissolved in water, transported and precipitated elsewhere

64
Q

solution (corrosion)

A

when weak acids in seawater dissolve alkaline rock (chalk/limestone), or the alkaline cement that bonds rock particles together

65
Q

spit

A

a long, narrow feature that extents from the land into the sea (or estuary)

66
Q

stack

A

an isolated pillar of rock formed when the top of an arch collapses

67
Q

slump

A

a low isolated pillar of rock formed when a stack collapsed. It may only appear above the surface at low tide

68
Q

submergent coastline

A

a coastline created when a rise in sea level floods the coast

69
Q

suspension

A

sand that is carried by the wind or a water body

70
Q

swash-aligned beach

A

a beach formed in a low-energy environment by waves roughly parallel to the shore

71
Q

tidal range

A

the relative different in height between high and low tides

72
Q

tides

A

changes in teh water level of seas and oceans caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun

73
Q

tombolo

A

ridge of the beach material that has formed between an island and the mainland

74
Q

traction

A

the rolling coarse sediment along the sea bed that is too heavy to be picked up and carried by the sea

75
Q

vegetation succession

A

the sequence of changes that take pace as plant life colonises bare rock, sand, water or salty areas

76
Q

wave quarrying

A

the action of waves breaking against unconsolidated material (sands and gravels)

77
Q

wave refraction

A

the distortion of wave fronts as they approach an indented shoreline

78
Q

wave-cut notch

A

a notch in the rock created by erosion as waves break against the foot of a cliff. The notch will get bigger caused the cliff to be undercut

79
Q

wave-cut platform

A

a largely-flat stretch of rock created by repeated erosional processes causing a wave-cut notch to migrate inland and the cliff to retreat

80
Q

succession

A

the long-term change in a plant community for the initial colonisers to the climax plant community

81
Q

pioneer species

A

the first plants to colonise an area of bare ground

82
Q

Psammosere

A

sand

83
Q

halosere

A

salt marsh

84
Q

flocculation

A

clay particles that stick together where salt and fresh water meet and their combined mass makes them sink

85
Q

halophytic

A

plants that are salt tolerant

Geography (7 decks)

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