Key Terms + Components Flashcards
(11 cards)
What is a landform?
Individual physical features, e.g. cliffs, beaches, dunes, formed by processes such as erosion, deposition, and weathering.
Define an open system.
Exchanges both energy and matter with its surroundings, e.g. coastal systems.
What is a closed system?
Exchanges energy but not matter with its surroundings, e.g. the global water cycle.
What are inputs in a system?
Elements entering the system, e.g. sediment, energy from waves.
What are outputs in a system?
Elements leaving the system, e.g. sediment transported away by currents.
What do we mean by energy in the context of a coastal system?
The driving force behind processes, e.g. wave energy, wind energy, solar energy.
What are stores in a coastal system?
Locations where energy or matter is held, e.g. beaches, sand dunes.
Define flows/transfers in a coastal system.
Movements of energy or matter within the system, e.g. longshore drift, wind-blown sand.
What is positive feedback?
Process tends to increase the change in the system; leads to instability, e.g. coastal management leading to increased erosion elsewhere.
What is negative feedback?
Returns the system back towards stability and equilibrium, e.g. erosion of cliffs leading to cliff collapse.
Fill in the blank: Many coastal systems can be thought of as a mixture between _______ and closed systems.
open
