Coastal erosion and depositional landforms

Question 1

What are the 4 types of coastal erosion?

Answer 1

Corrasion
Attrition
Solution
Hydraulic action

Question 2

What is corrasion?

Answer 2

Where sediment moved by waves grinds down the side of a cliff

Question 3

What is attrition?

Answer 3

Where waves move the rocks and pebbles causing them to hit each other and smoothening their surfaces when they break

Question 4

What is solution?

Answer 4

When acids in seawater dissolve rocks

Question 5

What is hydraulic action?

Answer 5

Where air gets trapped in the side of the cliff face and gets compressed by waves
This forces the rock apart

Question 6

What does concordant mean?

Answer 6

When layers of rock are parallel to the sea

Question 7

What does discordant mean?

Answer 7

When alternating bands of rock are at right angles to the coast

Question 8

What is a headland?

Answer 8

A piece of land jutting out to sea

Question 9

What is a bay?

Answer 9

A broad coastline, often with a beach

Question 10

Where do headlands and bays occur?

Answer 10

At discordant coastlines

Question 11

Why is water in bays shallow?

Answer 11

Because eroded rock is deposited in bays, as they are more sheltered, which means the water has less energy

Question 12

What type of erosion takes place at the soft rock in a bay?

Answer 12

Hydraulic action

Question 13

What is Old Harry?

Answer 13

A stack formed by the erosion of a cliff

Question 14

Where is Old Harry?

Answer 14

Along the Dorset coastal town of Swanage

Question 15

What is a stack?

Answer 15

A steep and vertical column in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion

Question 16

What are the steps that led up to the formation of Old Harry?

Answer 16

1. Headland
2. Crack
3. Cave
4. Arch
5. Stack

Question 17

What is wave pounding?

Answer 17

The force of waves crashing against a cliff

Question 18

What is a wave cut platform?

Answer 18

A wide, gentle sloping rocky surface at the foot of a cliff

Question 19

What is a wave cut notch?

Answer 19

A small indentation cut into a cliff roughly at the level of high tide caused by erosion

Question 20

What is fetch?

Answer 20

the distance the wind has blown

Question 21

What causes waves?

Answer 21

Wind blowing over the sea

Question 22

What are the features of a constructive wave?

Answer 22

• created in calm conditions (summer)
• builds up beach material
• low frequency of 6-8 waves per minute
• strong swash but weak backwash

Question 23

What are the features of a destructive wave?

Answer 23

• created in stormy conditions (winter)
• removes material from coast
• has a high frequency of 10-15 waves per minute
• weak swash but strong backwash

Question 24

What is a spit?

Answer 24

A finger of new land made of sand and shingle jutting out to sea from the coast

Question 25

What builds behind a spit if at a river estuary?

Answer 25

A salt marsh

Question 26

What is a bar?

Answer 26

A spit that has grown across a bay

Question 27

What are coastal spits formed through?

Answer 27

Longshore drift

Question 28

What is longshore drift?

Answer 28

The movement of material along a coast by waves which approach at an angle to the shore but recede directly away from it

Question 29

When does a hook form at the end of a spit?

Answer 29

If the wind changes- refraction of waves

Question 30

What is a tombolo?

Answer 30

Similar to a spit, but connects to an island

Question 31

What do you get behind a bar?

Answer 31

A lagoon

Question 32

What landforms does deposition form?

Answer 32

Spits
Bars
Beaches
Tombolos
Sand Dunes

Question 33

Why is a sand dune formed?

Answer 33

From onshore winds blowing inland