4) The UK's Evolving Physical Landscape Flashcards
1
Q
What is the longest river in the UK?
A
The longest river in the UK is the River Severn (354km)
2
Q
Where are the upland areas of the UK?
A
Scotland
Lake District
Pennines
3
Q
What are UK upland areas used for?
A
Sheep Farming
Tourism
Paper-making
4
Q
Where are the lowland areas of the UK?
A
The lowland areas are the south and east of the UK- Norwhich and East Anglia
5
Q
What are the UK lowland areas used for?
A
Farming as the soil is very soft and fertile
6
Q
What is the largest city in the UK?
A
London (9.3 million)
7
Q
Where are large cities often located?
A
Near water sources
Lowland areas
8
Q
What are the UK’s 3 main rock types?
A
Igneous
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
9
Q
How do igneous rocks form?
A
Igneous rocks form when magma from the Earth’s mantle cools and hardens
10
Q
Where are igneous rocks located in the UK?
A
Highland areas
11
Q
How do sedimentary rocks form?
A
Sedimentary rocks form when layers of sediment are compacted together
12
Q
What are the 3 main types of sedimentary rock in the UK?
A
Carboniferous Limestone
Chalk
Clay
13
Q
How do metamorphic rocks form?
A
Metamorphic rocks form when heat and pressure causes rocks to become harder and more compact
14
Q
Where are metamorphic rocks located in the UK?
A
Mountainous Regions
15
Q
Where are sedimentary rocks located in the UK?
A
Near sources of water
16
Q
When was the UK in the tropics?
A
300 million years ago
17
Q
What did the UK being in the tropics cause?
A
Carboniferous limestone formed in the warm and shallow seas as sea levels were higher
18
Q
When did active volcanoes erupt onto the UK?
A
500 million years ago
19
Q
What formed the Scottish Highlands and Lake District’s mountain ranges?
A
Plate collisions generating hard metamorphic rocks
20
Q
What are characteristics of slate and schist?
A
Hard and resistant
Easily split
21
Q
What are the characteristics of granite?
A
Very hard and resistant
Lots of unevenly spread joints
Impermeable
22
Q
What are the characteristics of chalk and clay?
A
Soft
Chalk- permeable
Clay- impermeable
23
Q
What are characteristics of carboniferous limestone?
A
Heavily affected by carbonation weathering
Permeable
24
Q
What is erosion?
A
The wearing down of rocks as a result of being picked up and moved elsewhere
25
What are some slope processes?
Mass movement
| Soil creep
26
What is weathering?
The breakdown of rocks where they are
27
What is meant by climatological processes?
The climate effects how physical processes happen and interact e.g. freeze-thaw weathering at below 0 C
28
What are the physical landscape processes?
```
Weathering
Erosion
Post-glacial processes
Slope processes
Climatological processes
```
29
What are human landscape processes?
Agriculture
Forestry
Settlement
30
How has agriculture affected the UK's landscape?
Forests cleared for space
Walls installed for field boundaries
Drainage ditches installed
31
How has forestry affected the UK's landscape?
Deciduous woodland replaced by coniferous forests for timber
32
What biome did the UK use to mainly be?
Deciduous woodland
33
How has settlement affected the UK's landscape?
Good water supplies, shelter, bridging points have been built
Drainage patterns have been affected by concrete
Some rivers diverted
34
What are the types of weathering?
Chemical
Mechanical
Biological
35
What is biological weathering?
Living organisms breaking down rocks
36
What is mechanical weathering?
Freeze-thaw weathering
| Physical erosion with the chemical composition of rock staying the same
37
What is chemical weathering?
When the chemical composition of the rock changes due to external factors
38
What are examples of chemical weathering?
Acid rain
| Carbonic dioxide
39
What is mass movement?
Large movements of soil and rock down a slope or hill
40
What are examples of mass movement?
Rockfalls
Slumps
Slides
41
What are rockfalls?
When the cliff materials break and crumble down the cliff
42
What are slumps?
When material moves down a slope at a curve
43
What are slides?
When material moves down a slope in a straight line
44
What causes mass movements?
Weathering
Erosion
Gravity
45
What are the 2 types of wave?
Constructive
| Destructive
46
What are constructive waves?
Short waves which deposit material onto coastlines
47
Describe constructive wave's swash and backwash?
Strong swash
| Weak backwash
48
Describe constructive wave's frequency?
Low (7-10) per minute
49
What are destructive waves?
Taller waves which cause erosion on coastlines
50
Describe destructive wave's swash and backwash?
Weak swash
| Strong backwash
51
Describe destructive wave's frequency?
High (10-15) per minute
52
What is deposition?
Depositing solid material from water onto land
53
What types of erosion do destructive wave cause?
Hydraulic power
Abrasion
Attrition
54
What is hydraulic power?
The force of a wave hitting a rock
55
What is abrasion?
When material and rock carried by water damages the coastal rock
56
What is attrition?
The bedload colliding with itself
57
Where do headlands and bays form?
When areas have alternating areas of hard and soft rock adjacent to the sea
Discordant coastlines
58
What is is a rock with lots of crack and joints called?
Soft rock
59
Do hard or soft rocks erode quicker?
Soft rocks
60
What are condorant coastlines?
Alternating layers of hard and soft rock parallel to the sea
| Sea's waves hit only 1 rock type when they meet the coast
61
What are discordant coastlines?
Alternating chunks of hard and soft rocks adjacent (90 degrees) to the sea
Sea's waves hit both rock types when they meet the coast
62
Where are bays usually created?
Where the sea meets areas of soft rock
| Discordant coastlines
63
Where are headlands usually created?
Where the sea meets areas of hard rock
| Discordant coastlines
64
What factors affect shaping coastal landscapes?
Seasonality
Prevailing winds and wind speed
Storm frequency
Rainfall
65
What causes lots of destructive waves?
Strong prevailing winds
66
How does rainfall affect soil?
Soil is more saturated
Mass movements more likely
Chemical weathering more likely
67
What is freeze-thaw weathering?
Water fills cracks, freezes, expands putting pressure on the rock. Water melts but leaves pressure on the rock
68
What is a wave cut platform?
A flat, gently sloping ledge of rock that extends out into the sea from the base of a cliff
69
How is a wave-cut platform formed?
1) Destructive waves erode base of cliff to form a wave-cut notch
2) Continued erosion causes rock above wave-cut notch to be less stable until it collapses
3) Waves wash away debris, process repeats
70
What is a headland?
Hard rocking sticking into the sea
71
What can eroded headlands create?
Caves
Arches
Stacks
72
How do caves form?
Cracks widen and become large enough to create a cave
73
How do arches form?
Caves can be eroded from one side through to the other
74
How do stacks form?
The top of an arch collapses due to gravity
| Column called a stack left behind
75
What process transports material along coastlines?
Longshore drift
76
What are the stages of longshore drift?
1) Wind approaches the coast at an angle due to prevailing wind direction
2) Waves are controlled by wind and this angle will be the direction swash moves up the beach
3) Gravity is the only force acting on backwash so it falls back into the sea at right angles to the coastline
4) This causes sediment to repeatedly move in the shape of a right angle triangle across the beach
77
How do coasts grow in size?
More sediment is deposited then lost by erosion
78
How are sandy beaches created?
Sand is deposited on the shoreline
79
What are characteristics of sandy beaches?
Very long
| Flat
80
How are shingle beaches created?
Pebbles and shingle are deposited on the coast
81
What are characteristics of shingle beaches?
Short
| Steep
82
What increases the amount of deposition?
Lots of rock from erosion
| More sediment in the ocean
83
What is the high water mark?
The point highest up the beach that the sea level rises to
84
What is the low water mark?
The point lowest down the beach the sea level falls to
85
When does deposition happen on beaches?
When constructive waves break on the shore
86
What can deposition create?
Beaches
Bars
Spits
Sand dunes
87
What are spits?
Piles of sand that create sheltered zones on the coast
| Long fingers of sand sticking out from the coastline
88
What often forms in a spit's sheltered zone?
Marshland
89
When are bars created?
When a spit grows across a bay
90
What is often created behind bars?
Lagoons (saltwater pools separated from the ocean)
91
What are sand dunes?
Hills of sand created at the back of a beach
92
What are older sand dunes called?
Mature dunes
93
What are newer sand dunes called?
Embryo dunes
94
How are sand dunes created?
Wind blows deposited sand up the beach, objects like wood can block the wind leading to hills of sand
95
What are direct effects?
Immediate consequences of human's behaviour
96
What are indirect effects?
Knock-on effects of primary effects
97
What are exmaples of effects of human activity on coasts?
Development
Agriculture
Industry
Coastal Management
98
How has development effected coasts?
Towns are protected by sea walls, groynes etc
| This can shift the impact of erosion down the coast
99
How have coasts affected agriculture?
Farmland can be lost as coastal erosion destroys land
100
How has the coast effected industry location?
Most industries do not located near the coast
| Incase of natural disaster
101
What are examples of coastal defenses?
Sea walls
Rock armour
Gabions
Groynes
102
What do coastal defences aim to reduce?
Erosion
| Weathering
103
What type of effect are coastal defences an example of?
Direct effect
104
Where is most ice stored?
The Artic
| The Antartic
105
What is causing sea levels to rise?
Climate change
| Melting ice
106
What could higher sea levels lead to?
Coastal flooding
107
What do higher sea surface temperatures lead to?
More frequent cyclones
| More severe cyclones
108
What wave type is becoming more common?
Destructive waves
109
What are the environmental threats of coastal flooding?
Salt is bad for soil fertility and living organisms
| Flooding can kill animals in nature reserves
110
What are coastal flooding threats to people?
Homes and businesses can be destroyed
Infrastructure and tourism destroyed
Death, injury
111
What is meant by hard engineering?
Using man-made constructions to protect the coastline
112
What are examples of hard engineering?
Sea Walls
Rock armour
Gabions
Groynes
113
What are sea walls?
Walls that block waves
Shape can be desgined to reflect waves
Expensive
114
What is rock amour?
Piles of rocks or bolders
Absorb pressure and energy from waves
Cheap
115
What are gabions?
Wire cages full of boulders and rocks
| Absorb pressure and energy from waves
116
What happens to gabions over time?
Metal wire corrodes
117
What are groynes?
Fences that stick out 90 degress to the coast
| Cheap
118
What process do groynes stop?
Longshore drift
| Creates wide beaches
119
What is meant by soft engineering?
Artificially using the sea, physical and natural processes to protect the coastline
120
What are examples of soft engineering?
Beach nourishment
Dune regenration
Beach profling
121
What is beach nourishment?
Adding more sand to a beach
122
What is dune regeneration?
Improving and maintaing sand dunes
Planting plants helps dunes resist wind and absorb wave energy
Expensive
123
What is beach profiling?
Changing the make-up of sediment and sand on a beach
| Making beaches wider slows waves and reduces wave energy
124
What is a negative of beach profiling?
Moving sand and shingle can damage wildlife living amongst it
125
What is managed retreat?
Accepting defeat
| Allowing land to be flooded to protect land behind it
126
What are disadvantages of managed retreat?
Land is lost to sea
| Homes and land lost
127
What are advantages of managed retreat?
Protects land behind swamps
Costs no money
No maintenance needed
Swamps are biodiverse
128
What can managed retreat also be called?
Coastal realignment
129
What does ICZM stand for?
Integrated Coastal Zone Management
130
What does intergrated coastal zone management look at?
Citizens' and businesses' long term needs
| Balancing soft and hard engineering with coastal realignment
131
What does coastal realignment involve?
Prioritising certain areas of land to protect against floods and erosion
132
What is most likely to be protected by coastal realignment?
Towns
133
What is the river case study?
Boscastle
134
What are scree slopes?
Piles of angular rocks on slops created by freeze thaw weathering
135
What are the case studies?
Somerset levels
Happisburgh
Boscastle
London
