Ocean Environments Test

Question 1

Coast

Answer 1

the zone where the land meets the sea

Question 2

Drowned coast

Answer 2

“Submergent coast”
2 types: ria, fjords

Question 3

Ria coast

Answer 3

sea-level rise has drowned a region of coastal river valleys forming a series of wide estuaries often separated by a long peninsula

*Prevalent in Northwestern Europe, eastern US, and Australia

Question 4

Fjord coast

Answer 4

sea-level rise has drowned one or more deep glacier-carved valleys

*Prevalent in coastal Norway, Chile, Canada, and New Zealand

Question 5

Estuary

Answer 5

salt water meets fresh water

Question 6

Emergent coast

Answer 6

occur where land has uplifted faster than the sea has risen since the last ice age.

Areas that were formerly sea floor may become exposed above the shoreline while former beaches often end up well behind the shoreline or even on clifftops.

Staircase structures called marine terraces are created by a combination of uplift and waves gradually cutting flat platforms at the base of cliffs.

Question 7

Global sea-level change

Answer 7

Most important cause: the increase or decrease in the extent of the world’s ice sheets and glaciers

Related to Earth’s climate

If it cools, more water is frozen into glaciers=less oceans

If it warms up, more water melts from glaciers=more ocean volume

Affects ocean water temperature

Question 8

Local sea-level change

Answer 8

Occurs when a particular area of land rises or falls relative to the general sea level

One cause occurs in regions where oceanic crust is being forced beneath continental crust.

Another cause is the glacial rebound-gradual rise of a specific area of land after an ice sheet that once weighed it down rises.

Question 9

Coastal landscapes

Answer 9

can be classified into primary or secondary.

Question 10

Primary coasts

Answer 10

have formed as a result of land-based processes like land erosion and volcanic activity.

Question 11

Secondary coasts

Answer 11

have been shaped by marine erosional processes or by activities of organisms like corals and mangroves and people.

Question 12

Wave-erosion coasts

Answer 12

secondary coast

waves hurl beach material against the cliffs which abrade the rock
each wave compresses air within cracks in the rock and on reexpansion, the air shatters the rock.

Question 13

Marine-deposition coasts

Answer 13

Formed by sediment brought to the coast by rivers, eroded from headlands, or moved from offshore by waves.

Question 14

Spit formation

Answer 14

sand and water are carried past the headland by longshore drift but the sand settles at the mouth of an estuary where the waves are opposed by the sluggish outflow from a river.

Question 15

Beaches

Answer 15

deposits of sedimentary material

Commonly occur on coasts above the low-tide line

Sources of beach material-sediment brought to the coast by rivers or eroded from cliffs or the sea floor or the biological material such as shells.

Wind can also influence beach development and is instrumental in forming coastal dunes

Question 16

Foreshore

Answer 16

the area between the average high and low tide lines

The seaward side of the foreshore is the nearshore while behind is the backshore

Backshore is submerged only during the very highest tides and includes a flat-topped accumulation of beach material called a berm.

Question 17

beach face

Answer 17

The sloping area Seward of the berm making up most of the foreshore

Question 18

beach cusps

Answer 18

a series of crescent-shaped troughs

Question 19

swash zone

Answer 19

the part of the beach face that is covered and uncovered with water as the waves arrive

Question 20

surf zone

Answer 20

Seaward of the swash zone extending out to where the waves break

Question 21

what affects the type of beach that will form?

Answer 21

Level of wave energy, the direction the waves arrive from, and the geological makeup of a coast

Question 22

Dissipative beaches

Answer 22

Gentle sloping, absorb wave energy over a broad area, made up of fine sand

Question 23

Reflective beaches

Answer 23

Steep, shorter, and consists of coarser sediment

Question 24

Pocket beaches

Answer 24

Isolated between two headlands

Question 25

Headland

Answer 25

formed when the sea attacks a section of the coast; Looks like eroded rock

Question 26

Drift-aligned beaches

Answer 26

waves arrive at an angle and sediment is moved along the beach by longshore drift

Question 27

Beach Composition

Answer 27

Most beaches are composed of sand, gravel or pebbles produced from rock erosion

Sand grains of quartz and other minerals such as feldspar

Other materials: fragmented and skeletal remains of marine organisms

Higher wave energies=coarser materials

Question 28

Coastal Dunes

Answer 28

:

Formed by the wind blowing sand off the dry parts of a beach

Develop in the area behind the backshore which together with the upper beach face supplies the sand

For dunes to develop, the sand has to be continually replaced

Question 29

saltation

Answer 29

The actual movement of sand to form a dune occurs through a jumping and bouncing movement along the ground

Question 30

foredunes

Answer 30

The dunes closest to the shore. Behind them is a primary dune ridge, secondary dune ridge, etc.

Question 31

Marram Grass

Answer 31

common colonizer of embryo dunes (dunes in the beginning stages).

Develops deep roots that allow it to tap into groundwater.

Roots bind the sand together while the grass traps more blown sand assisting in foredune development.

Question 32

Estuary

Answer 32

connects to an open sea, is narrow, and receives freshwater from 1 or more rivers.

Question 33

Coastal lagoons

Answer 33

linked to the sea by one or more narrow channels through water flows in and out. Sometimes the channels open only at high tide.

Question 34

Estuary formation 4 ways

Answer 34

First- the sea level may rise and flood an existing river valley on a coastal plain.

second- the sea level can rise to flood a glacier-carved valley forming a fjord

Third- the coastal wave action can also create an estuary

Fourth- the estuaries result from movement at tectonic faults in Earth’s crust.

Question 35

Estuary environments

Answer 35

long and funnel-shaped, tides rush in

Fluctuations in salinity, reduction in photosynthesis, high concentrations of nutrients