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Edexcel Geography AS Level > 3.3 Coastal Risks > Flashcards

3.3 Coastal Risks Flashcards

1
Q

What is Sea-level change?

A

Sea level is the average height of the ocean surface between high and low tide.

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2
Q

What the factors of short term sea level changes?

A
  • High and low tide alter local sea level.
  • Atmospheric air pressure low = rise in sea level.
  • Winds can push water towards coast.
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3
Q

What the factors of long-term sea level changes?

A
  • Isostatic change: local rise/fall in LAND level.
    -Eustatic change: global rise/fall in WATER level
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4
Q

What are storm surges?

A

Storm surge are short term rises in sea level caused by low air pressure.

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5
Q

What the factors of storm surges?

A
  • Depressions in Mid latitudes e.g UK
  • Tropical cyclones
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6
Q

What factors can make storm surges worse?

A
  • Strong winds push waves so height increases
  • High/spring tides occur.
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7
Q

What is the research done by IPCC?

Hint: Sea level changes statistics.

A

Sea levels rose by 3.2mm each year 1993-2010. If Greenland Ice Sheet melts, sea level could rise by 7m.

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8
Q

Maldives Case Study

A
  • 340,000 population
  • 1200 islands
  • Highest island is 2.3m above sea level.
  • If sea level rises by 50m, 77% of the land will be lost.
  • Malé has a 3m sea wall & artificial island Hulhmalé which cost $32M
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9
Q

Bangladesh Case Study

A

Bangladesh’s Coast is very vulnerable to flooding for a numebr of reasons:

  • Very low lying river delta (1-3m above sea level)
  • Storm surges meet river discharge
  • Intense rainfall from tropical cyclones
  • Unconsolidated sediment
  • Deforestation of mangroves
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10
Q

What is the examples of Isostatic Change?

A
  • Accretion: the weight of sediment causes land to sink
  • Tectonic Uplift: movement of tectonic plates may cause land to rise.
  • Isostatic Rebound: (post-glacial isostatic adjustment) after an ice age, glaciers will melt so land rises.
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11
Q

What are the example of Eustatic change?

A
  • Global Warming: when the ice caps melt, this extra water will flow into the oceans and raise sea level.
  • Global Cooling: water will be locked up in ice caps/glaciers, so sea level will lower.
  • Thermal Expansion: if temperature rises, water will expand, which makes sea level rise.
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12
Q

What is the Greenhouse effect?

A
  • This is a natural process that helps maintain a global temperature at 15°C
  • Around 30% of Sun’s radiation is reflected back into space.
  • The rest is absorbed or re-emitted by the Earth.
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13
Q

What is the Ice Age?

A
  • The last Ice Age was 16,000 years ago
  • North-West UK was covered in km^2 of ice, causing the land to subside
  • In South UK, the land rose to balance this.
  • As Ice melted around 10,00 years in Scotland the South-East is now sinking.
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14
Q

What are the case studies of tectonic activity

In terms of coasts.

A
  • Tectonically active regions (New Zealand) experience uplift as fold mountains are formed.
  • 1964 Alaskan Earthquake caused major changes to the coastline.
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15
Q

What are flood risk?

A

Places that are higher risk; are low lying coasts.

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16
Q

What are the factors of people that inhabit vulnerable coasts?

A
  • They are popular with tourists
  • Deltas & esturaries are good for trading with upriver places
  • Deltas are fertile & ideal for farming.
17
Q

What are the factors of erosional rate?

A
  • Long fetch & destructive waves
  • Structural weaknesses in cliffs
  • Cliffs that are vulnerable to mass movement & weathering.
  • Strong longshore drift
  • It can also be increased by HUMAN activity such as offshore dredging.
18
Q

What are Emergent Coastlines?

A
  • Created when sea level FALLS
  • Often have rocky coastlines with cliffs and flat raised platforms.
19
Q

What is a raised beach?

A

Wave cut platform higher than current sea level, not reachable by high tide.

Examples: West Coast of USA

20
Q

What is fossil cliffs?

A

Found behind raised beaches, have wave-cut notches & arches.

West Scotland - Isle of Arran

21
Q

What are submergent coastlines?

A
  • Created when sea level rises and floods the land
  • Often by river valleys or glacially-carved valleys.
22
Q

What is a Ria?

A

A river valley flooded with sea water, have a V-shaped cross section, common periglacial areas

eg South England

23
Q

What are Fjords?

A

A glacial valley flood with seawater, have U-shaped croos section, common in glaciated areas

eg West Norway

24
Q

What is a Dalmatian Coastline?

A

Formed where valleys lie parallel to each other and are flooded so only the tops are visible, making them look like islands.

eg Dalmatian Coast, Croatia

Edexcel Geography AS Level (8 decks)

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