Coastal system key words

Question 1

What is abrasion / attrition?

Answer 1

A form of erosion where lose material sandpapers the walls and floors of the river, cliff and glacier

Question 2

What is Backshore?

Answer 2

The upper beach closest to the land, eg sand dunes and cliffs

Question 3

What is beach morphology?

Answer 3

The surface shape of the beach

Question 4

What is coastal recession?

Answer 4

The retreat of the coastline because of erosion, sea level rise or submergence

Question 5

What is a concordant coastline?

Answer 5

A coastline where bands of alternate geology run parallel to the coast

Question 6

What is corrosion?

Answer 6

Form of erosion when breaking waves fling material at a cliff face and knocking off material

Question 7

What is a Dalmatian coast?

Answer 7

Concordant coastlines with multiple river valleys running perpendicular to the coast. They become flooded to produce parallel Long Islands and inlets

Question 8

What is DEFRAS CBA?

Answer 8

An evaluation of coastal towns economic value compared to the management that is required.

Question 8

What is a discordant coast?

Answer 8

Coastline where bands of alternate geology run perpendicular to the shore

Question 9

What is a dynamic equilibrium?

Answer 9

When the system trues to achieve a balance by making constant changes in response to the changing system

Question 9

What is an emergent coast?

Answer 9

A coastline that’s advancing relative to the sea level at the time

Question 10

What does eustatic mean?

Answer 10

Global changes to sea levels

Question 11

What is a fetch?

Answer 11

Distance that the wave travels before it reaches the coastline. Distance to the nearest land mass in the direction that the wave travels

Question 11

What is a fjord?

Answer 11

Long narrow inlet that’s deeper in the middle than the mouth, created when sea levels rise relative to the land, floods coastal glacial valleys

Question 12

What is a foreshore?

Answer 12

Lower part of the beach covered twice a day at high tide (It receives the most wave action)

Question 13

What is freeze thaw?

Answer 13

Form of physical sub-aerial weathering where water freezes in the cracks of rocks, it expands and enlarges the crack and weakens the rock

Question 14

What is geology ?

Answer 14

The structure and arrangement of a rock

Question 15

What is glacial erosion?

Answer 15

The removal of loose material by glacier ice, involving plucking, abrasion, crushing and basal meltwater

Question 16

What is grading?

Answer 16

The layering of sediments based on their size

Question 17

What are high-energy environments?

Answer 17

A coast where wave action is predominantly large destructive waves and they cause erosion

Question 18

What is hydraulic action?

Answer 18

The pressure of compressed air forced into cracks in a rock causing it to weaken and break apart

Question 19

What is integrated coastal zone management (ICZM)?

Answer 19

Large sections of the coastline that are managed with 1 strategy and management occurs in different political areas

Question 20

What does impermeable mean?

Answer 20

A rock that doesn’t allow rainwater to pass through

Question 21

What is isostatic?

Answer 21

A change in local coastline or land height relative to sea level

Question 22

What is a littoral cell?

Answer 22

A section of the coast that involves Lots of sediment movement. Its an open system

Question 23

What is longshore drift?

Answer 23

The transportation of sediment along a beach. It's determined by the direction of prevailing wind

Question 24

What is a low energy environment?

Answer 24

A coast where wave action is predominately small constructive waves and cause deposition, leading to beach accretion

Question 25

What is mass movement?

Answer 25

The falling or movement of rock due to gravity

Question 26

What is nearshore?

Answer 26

The area before the shore where wave steepness breaks before the shore. It extends from the low tide zone and then out to sea

Question 27

What does permeable mean?

Answer 27

A rock that allows rainwater to pass through

Question 28

What is pant succession?

Answer 28

Change to a plant community due to growing conditions adapting, eg - sand dunes and salt marshes

Question 29

What are rias?

Answer 29

Narrow widening inlet, that is deepest at the mouth, formed when. sea levels rise and cause coastal valleys to flood

Question 30

What is saltation?

Answer 30

Smaller sediment bounces along a seabed pushed by currents. The sediment's too heavy to be picked up bt the flow of water

Question 31

What is a sediment cell?

Answer 31

Sections of the coast

Question 32

What is sediment budget?

Answer 32

Use of data on inputs, outputs, stores and transfers to assess the gains and losses of sediment within the cell

Question 33

What is an SMP?

Answer 33

Identifies all activities that occur at the coastline natural and human, can have 4 actions for each stretch of the coastline- hold the line, advance the line, managed realignment and no action

Question 34

What are sub - aerial processes>

Answer 34

Combinations of mass movement and weathering that affects the coastal land above the sea

Question 35

What is a submergence coast?

Answer 35

A coast that's sinking relative to the sea level at the time

Question 36

What is a till/

Answer 36

Deposits of angular rock fragments in a finer material

Question 37

What is wave quarrying>

Answer 37

Air is trapped and compressed against a cliff causing rock fragments to break off there cliff over time