'Coasts' Key Words

Question 1

Abrasion

Answer 1

Rocks are picked up by the waves and are flung against the cliffs wearing them down.

Question 2

Arch

Answer 2

A wave-eroded passes through a small headland. This begins as a case which is gradually widened and deepened until it cuts through.

Question 3

Attrition

Answer 3

Rocks being carried by the coast smash together and break into smaller, smoother and rounder particles.

Question 4

Backwash

Answer 4

Water that gloes back towards the sea after swash has moved upshore.

Question 5

Bar

Answer 5

Where a spit grown across a bay, a bar can eventually enclose the bay to create a lagoon.

Question 6

Bay

Answer 6

A wide coastal inlet, often with a beach, where areas of less resistant rock have been eroded by the sea.

Question 7

Beach

Answer 7

A zone of deposited material that extends from the low water line to the limit of storm waves.

Question 8

Beach nourishment

Answer 8

Adding new material to a beach artificially, through the dumping of large amounts of sand or shingle.

Question 9

Cave

Answer 9

A large hole in a cliff caused by waves forcing their way into cracks in the cliff face.

Question 10

Chemical weathering

Answer 10

The deposition (or rotting) of rock caused by a chemical change within that rock.

Question 11

Cliff

Answer 11

A steep high rock face formed by weathering and erosion.

Question 12

Coastal management

Answer 12

Strategies used to defend coastal environments, divided into three different approaches: hard engineering, soft engineering and managed retreat.

Question 13

Constructive waves

Answer 13

A powerful wave with a strong swash that surges up a beach.

Question 14

Deposition

Answer 14

Occurs when material being transported by the sea is dripped due to the sea losing energy.

Question 15

Destructive waves

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Dune

Answer 16

Deposit of sand which has been blown inland by onshore winds.

Question 17

Dune regeneration

Answer 17

Building up dunes and increasing vegetation to prevent excessive coastal retreat.

Question 18

Erosion

Answer 18

Wearing away and removal of material by a moving force, such as a breaking wave.

Question 19

Fault

Answer 19

A crack or line of weakness in the rock.

Question 20

Fetch

Answer 20

The distance of open water over which the wind can blow.

Question 21

Freeze-thaw weathering

Answer 21

A common process of weathering in a glacial environment involving repeated cycles of freezing and thawing that can make cracks in rock bigger.

Question 22

Gabions

Answer 22

Steel wire mesh filled with boulders used in coastal defences.

Question 23

Geological structure

Answer 23

The way that layers of rock are folded or tilted.

Question 24

Groyne

Answer 24

A wooden barrier built out into the sea to stop the longshore drift of sand and shingle, and allow the beach to grow.

Question 25

Headland

Answer 25

A rocky coastal promontory (highpoint of land) made of rock that is resistant to erosion: headlands lie between bays of less resistant rock where the land has been eroded by the sea.

Question 26

Hard engineering

Answer 26

The use of concrete and large artificial structure to protect against erosion.

Question 27

Hydraulic power

Answer 27

Process where breaking waves compress pockets of air in cracks in a cliff, the pressure may cause the cracks to widen, breaking off rock.

Question 28

Landform

Answer 28

A physical feature of the Earth's surface.

Question 29

Longshore drift

Answer 29

Transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle.

Question 30

Marram grass

Answer 30

Type of grass that is adapted to windy, exposed conditions and is used in coastal management to stabilise sand dunes.

Question 31

Mass movement

Answer 31

Downhill movement of weathered material under the force of gravity.

Question 32

Mechanical weathering

Answer 32

Physical disintegration or break up of exposed Rick without any change in its chemical composition i.e freeze-thaw.

Question 33

Mudflats

Answer 33

Areas of fine sediment deposits which over time can develop in Saltmarshes.

Question 34

Mudflow

Answer 34

When saturated soil and weak rock flow down a slope.

Question 35

Recurved end

Answer 35

Strong winds or tidal current cause the end of a spit to become curved.

Question 36

Reprofiling

Answer 36

Increasing the height and width of beaches by dumping and shaping of dredged sand or shingle.

Question 37

Rock armour

Answer 37

Large boulders deliberately dumped on a bench as part of coastal defences.

Question 38

Rockfall

Answer 38

A fragment of rock breaks away from the cliff face, often due to freeze-thaw weathering.

Question 39

Rotational slip

Answer 39

Slump of saturated spil and weak rock along a curved surface.

Question 40

Saltmarshes

Answer 40

Important natural habitats often found in sheltered river estuaries behind spits where there is very little flow of water.

Question 41

Scree

Answer 41

Accumulation of fragments of weathered rock.

Question 42

Sea wall

Answer 42

Concrete wall aiming to prevent erosion of the coast by reflecting wave energy.

Question 43

Sliding

Answer 43

Loose surface material becomes saturated and the extra weight causes the material to become unstable and move rapidly downhill.

Question 44

Slumping

Answer 44

Rapid mass movement which involves a whole segment of the cliff moving down-slope along a saturated line of weakness is a rotation.

Question 45

Soft engineering

Answer 45

Managing erosion working with natural processes to help restore beaches and coastal ecosystems.

Question 46

Solution

Answer 46

The dissolving of rocks such as limestone and chalk by sea water.

Question 47

Spit

Answer 47

Depositional landform formed when a finger of sediment extends from the shore out to the sea, often at a river mouth.

Question 48

Stack

Answer 48

Isolated pillar of rock left when the top of an arch has collapsed.

Question 49

Swash

Answer 49

The forward movement of a wave up a beach.

Question 50

Transportation

Answer 50

The movement of eroded material.

Question 51

Wave refraction

Answer 51

Wave energy is reduced in bays as the water gets shallower.

Question 52

Waves

Answer 52

Ripples in the sequence caused by the transfer of energy from the wind blowing over the surface of the sea.

Question 53

Wave-cut platform

Answer 53

Rocky, level shelf at or around sea level, representing the base of old, retreated cliffs.