Coasts Flashcards
What is a concordant coastline?
A coastline where the layers of the rock are parallel to the coast
What is a discordant coastline?
Where the rock layers are right angles to the coast
What are destructive waves?
Waves that erode the beach
What are constructive waves?
Waves that deposit material onto a beach
What is a headland?
A piece of land jutting out into the sea
What is a bay?
A broad coastal inlet often with a beach
How to headlands and bays form?
They can form from discordant coastlines as the soft rock layers erode but the hard rock layers don’t
What is longshore drift?
The movement of material along a coast by waves which approach at an angle to the shore but recede directly away from it.
What are examples of coastal defences?
Rock armour, groynes, sea wall, wooden revetments, gabions, beach nourishment, marshes
What is soft engineering?
Engineering that does not involve building artificial structures, but takes a more sustainable and natural approach to managing the coastal.
What is hard engineering?
engineering that involves building artificial structures which try to control natural processes.
What is a sea wall?
Concrete walls that are placed at the foot of a cliff to prevent erosion.
What is rock armour?
Large boulders placed at the foot of a cliff. They break the waves and absorb their energy.
What are groynes?
Wooden or rock structures built out at right angles into the sea.
What is beach nourishment?
Sand being pumped onto an existing beach to build it up.
