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Geography > Topic 2B Coastal Landscapes and Change > Flashcards

Topic 2B Coastal Landscapes and Change Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the Littoral Zone?

A

The wider coastal zone including adjacent land areas and shallow parts of the sea just offshore

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2
Q

What is a system?

A

An assemblage of interrelated parts that work together by way of some driving process. They are a series of stores/components that have processes between them.

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3
Q

What are inputs?

A

Material or energy moving into the system from outside, e.g. precipitation.

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4
Q

What are stores/components?

A

The individual elements or parts of a system, e.g. sand; pebbles.

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5
Q

What are processes?

A

The links or relationships between the components, e.g. erosion.

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6
Q

What are outputs?

A

Material or energy moving from the system to the outside, e.g. stacks/stumps.

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7
Q

What is Dynamic Equilibrium?

A

The balanced state of a system. When opposing forces, or inputs and outputs, are equal.

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8
Q

Features of Rocky/Cliffed coastlines

A

Cliffs vary in height and are formed of rock but with variety in hardness.

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8
Q

What are Coastal Plains?

A

Land gradually slopes towards the sea across an area of deposited sediment, with sand dunes and mud flats being common. A.k.a alluvial coasts.

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9
Q

Characteristics of a cliffed coastline

A

Transition from land to sea is abrupt, at low tide a wave cut platform is visible

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10
Q

Characteristics of a Sandy coastline

A

Sand dunes fringe many coastal plains

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11
Q

Characteristics of a Estuarine coastline

A

Found at the mouths of rivers, characterised by mud flats

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12
Q

What is geology?

A

Rock age and type

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13
Q

What are igneous rocks?

A

The Earth’s oldest rocks, formed from lavas and deep magmas. They were once molten, then cooled and crystallised. Most igneous rocks are resistant to erosion.

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14
Q

What are sedimentary rocks?

A

Formed from sediments eroded and deposited by rivers, the sea, or on the sea bed. Some are resistant (e.g. limestone) whilst others crumble easily (e.g. shale).

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15
Q

What are metamorphic rocks?

A

Sedimentary rocks that were heated and compressed during igneous activity. Heating and compression harden them and make them resistant - shale becomes slate and limestone becomes marble.

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16
Q

What is coastal accretion?

A

the deposition of sediment at the coast and the seaward growth of the coastline, creating new land. It often involves sediment deposition being stabilised by vegetation.

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17
Q

What are high-energy coastlines?

A

The rate of erosion exceeds rate of deposition, characterised by headlands, cliffs and shoreline platforms

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18
Q

What are low energy coastlines?

A

The rate of deposition exceeds rate of erosion, characterised by beaches, spits and coastal plains

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19
Q

What are concordant coasts?

A

This is where bands of more-resistant and less-resistant rock run parallel to the coast.

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20
Q

What are discordant coasts?

A

The geology alternates between bands of more-resistant and less-resistant rock, which run perpendicular to the coast.

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21
Q

What is geological structure?

A

Refers to the arrangement of rocks in three dimensions. Strata, deformation and faulting are the three key elements to geological structure.

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22
Q

What is coastal morphology?

A

The shape and form of coastal landscapes and their features

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23
Q

What is coastal recession?

A

Another term for coastal erosion

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24
What is lithology?
The physical characteristics of particular rocks
25
What are Haff Coasts?
Consist of concordant features - long spits of sand and lagoons - aligned parallel to the coast.
26
What are Dalmatian coasts?
Another type of concordant coastline. They have formed as a result of a rise in sea level.
27
What is wave refraction?
The change in direction of waves as they move between materials with different properties.
28
What is strata?
Layers of rock
29
What are Bedding Planes?
(horizontal cracks), These are natural breaks in the strata, caused by gaps in time during periods of rock formation.
30
What are joints?
(vertical cracks), These are fractures, caused either by contraction as sediments dry out, or by earth movements during uplift.
31
What are folds?
Formed by pressure during tectonic activity, which makes rocks buckle and crumple (e.g. the Lulworth Crumple).
32
What are faults?
Formed when the stress or pressure to which a rock is subjected, exceeds its internal strength (causing it to fracture). The faults then slip or move along fault planes.
33
What is the 'Dip' ?
This refers to the angle at which rock strata lie (horizontally, vertically, dipping towards the sea, or dipping inland).
34
What is relief?
Height and slope of land
35
What are cliff profiles?
The height and angle of a cliff face, plus it’s features such as wave-cut notches or changes in slope angle
36
What is lithology?
The physical characteristics of particular rocks e.g strata, bedding planes etc.
37
What is coastal recession
Another term for coastal erosion
38
What is Plant Succession?
An ecological process of change in a plant community that occurs over time
39
What are Embryo Dunes?
The first sand dunes to develop
40
What is the pioneer species?
The first colonising plants which begin the process of plant succession
41
What are Salt Marshes?
An area of flat, silty sediments that accumulate around estuaries or lagoons; they are regularly flooded and drained by sea water.
42
What is colonisation?
Growth of plants in a new place
43
What is salinity?
Salt level
44
What is Marram Grass?
A pioneer species, with an extensive root system that traps sand
45
What is Detritus?
Dead particulate organic matter
46
What is the Strand Line?
Marks the highest point that the sea reaches
47
What is the Fore Dune?
Behind the embryo dunes, initially yellow but darken to grey as decaying plants add humus.
48
What is Humus?
Dark, organic material that forms in soil when plant and animal matter decay
49
What is a hillock?
A small hill/mound
50
What are sand dunes?
A depositional landform, where sand and sediment build up
51
What are mobile dunes?
52
What is a dune slack?
53
What is a blow-out?
A damaged area of dune knocked back to bare sand by a combination of erosion and strong wind
54
Where do salt marshes occur?
- In sheltered areas where deposition occurs - Where salt and freshwater meet - Where there are no strong tides/currents to prevent sediment deposition and accumulation
55
When are salt marshes exposed?
At low tide (covered at high tide)
56
What are mud flats?
A build up of mud layers; exposed as the tide drops and can easily dry out
57
What are halophytes?
Salt tolerant plant species e.g grasswort and cordgrass
58
What are creeks?
59
Explain the migration stage of Salt marsh succession
60
Explain the colonisation stage of Salt marsh succession
61
Explain the establishment stage of Salt marsh succession
62
Explain the competition stage of Salt marsh succession
63
Explain the Climax stage of Salt marsh succession
64
What is a wave fetch?
Uninterrupted distance across water over which wind blows, and therefore the distance waves have grown in size (travelled)
65
What is swash?
The flow of water up a beach as a wave breaks
66
What is backwash?
When water runs back down the beach to meet the next incoming wave
67
What is wavelength?
The distance between the crests (peaks) of two waves
68
What are constructive waves?
Waves that build up beaches by pushing sand and pebbles further up the beach
69
What are destructive waves?
Waves which erode beaches by removing material
70
What is frictional drag?
Movement of the upper surface of the water
71
What are swell waves?
Waves that originate mid-ocean, and maintain energy for thousands of miles.
72
What are the characteristics of constructive waves?
- Low wave height (<1m) - Long wavelength (up to 100m) - Gentle + flat - Weak backwash - Strong swash
73
What are the characteristics of destructive waves?
- higher wave height (>1m) - Shorter wavelength (~20m) - Powerful - Weak Swash - Strong backwash
74
What is beach morphology?
The form or shape of the beach
75
Characteristics of a summer beach profile
- Steeper profile due to constructive waves - larger material deposited at top of beach creating a berm - beach material is smaller towards the shoreline (backwash only has energy to move small material)
76
What is a berm?
Sediment ridge parallel to the shoreline
77
Characteristics of a winter beach profile?
- berms eroded (by plunging waves + high-energy swash) - Sediment transported offshore: forming offshore bars
78
What is differential erosion?
The selective erosion of areas of weakness, as opposed to more resistant areas and types of rock.
79
What is wave refraction?
Waves breaking and changing direction as they reach an irregularly shaped coastline e.g a headland separated by 2 bays
80
What is abrasion (a.k.a corrasion) ?
Transported material by waves, from the sea bed, hurled at the cliff foot which chips away at the rock.
81
What is hydraulic action?
When a wave advances and air is trapped and compressed into joints and cracks ; overtime weakening the cliff causing rock to break off. It can also be the force of the breaking wave.
82
What is corrosion?
Cliffs formed from alkaline rock (e.g limestone or chalk), solution by weak acids in seawater can dissolve the rock.
83
What is attrition?
Where rocks hit against each other; overtime wearing down the cliff and making the stones more rounded and smoother.
84
What is marine transport?
The movement of coastal sediment which has been eroded and then carried by the waves
85
What is longshore drift?
A process of coastal transportation and deposition
86
What is traction? (transport)
Where relatively large and heavy rocks are rolled along the seabed
87
What is saltation? (transport)
Where smaller and lighter rocks 'bounce' along the seabed
88
What is suspension? (transport)
Where lighter sediment is carried by the waves
89
What is solution? (transport)
Where dissolved sediment is carried by waves
90
What are swash-aligned coasts?
Wave crests approach parallel to the coast, so there is limited longshore movement of sediment
91
What are drift-aligned coasts?
Wave crests break at an angle to the coast, so there is consistent longshore drift and the generation of elongated depositional features
92
What is prevailing wind?
93
What are tides?
Changes in the water level of seas/oceans, caused by the gravitational pull of the moon (and to a lesser extent the sun)
94
What is a tidal range?
The relative difference in height between high and low tides
95
What are currents?
Flows of seawater in a particular direction driven by winds or differences in water density, salinity or temperature
96
What is a spit?
A long narrow feature, made of sand or shingle which extends from the land into the sea ( forms when there is a gap in the coastline, lots of sediment, and a dominant main longshore drift direction)
97
What is a beach?
Commonly found in bays, wave refraction leads to a low energy environment leading to deposition. Sediment may be graded along the beach (e.g 1 end with angular, the other with smooth rocks)
98
What kind of angle to sandy beaches have?
Gentle angle
99
What kind of angle to pebble beaches have?
Steeper angle (than sandy beaches)
100
What are offshore bars (a.k.a sandbars) ?
Submerged (or partially exposed) ridges of sand or coarse sediment, created by waves offshore from the coast.
101
What are barrier beaches (bar) ?
Where a beach or spit extends across a bay to join two headlands.
102
What is a tombolo?
A beach (or ridge of sand/shingle) that has formed between a small island and the mainland
103
What is a cuspate foreland?
A triangular-shaped headland that extends out from the main coastline
104
What is the student T-Test?
A statistical test that measures whether there is a statistical correlation between sets of data ( good to use when you have <30 samples)
105
What is erosion?
The breakdown of rock due to the action of some external force (wind, waves etc) which then transports the eroded material to a new location.
106
What are subaerial processes?
A combination of weathering and mass movement processes that alter the shape of a coastline, and are separate from marine erosion, transport and deposition processes.
107
What is weathering?
The in-situ breakdown of rocks by chemical, biological or mechanical agents; it does NOT involve any movement.
108
What is mass movement?
The movement of weathered material down slope, as a result of gravity
109
What is mechanical weathering?
Breakdown of rocks due to a physical force e.g freeze thaw or salt crystillisation
110
What is freeze-thaw weathering?
Water expands inside cracks when frozen, exerting a force; after repeated cycles this loosens the rocks
111
What is salt crystallisation weathering?
Growth of salt crystals in cracks/pores can extert a breaking force.
112
What is chemical weathering?
Where rocks are broken down due to a chemical reaction and the generation of new chemical compounds. e.g carbonation, hydrolysis and oxidation
113
What is carbonation (weathering)?
The dissolution of limestone due to rainfall
114
What is hydrolysis (weathering)?
115
What is oxidation (weathering)?
116
What is biological weathering?
Rocks break down due to action of plants, bacteria or animals (often speeds up mechanical or chemical weathering) e.g plant roots or rock boring.
117
What is plant root weathering?
118
What is rock boring weathering?

Geography (4 decks)

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