4.3 Coastal Landscapes

Question 1

What is a concordant coastline

Answer 1

A concordant coastline is when one rock is parallel to the sea and there is usually cliffs on the coast and not headlands or bays.

Question 2

Give an a rock example of a concordant coastline

Answer 2

Limestone in swanage

Question 3

What is a discordant coastline

Answer 3

A discordant coastline is when different rock types run perpendicular to the coast.

Question 4

Rock example of a discordant coastline

Answer 4

Soft and hard rock, (chalk and clay)

Question 5

What is a joint and fault?

Answer 5

A joint is a fracture where no movement has taken place and is caused by tension and a fault is a fracture where movement has taken place

Question 6

What is hard rock

Answer 6

Rock that is more resistant to erosion

Question 7

What is soft rock

Answer 7

Soft rock is more easily eroded.

Question 8

What is a headland and bay?

Answer 8

A headland and bay is where soft rock has been eroded creating an indent in a discordant coastline and the headland is the hard rock that has not been eroded as much

Question 9

How do caves form

Answer 9

Caves form from being eroded by waves force their way into cracks in cliffs

Question 10

How do arches form

Answer 10

Arches form when a cave is formed in a headland and eventually breaks through to the other side forming an arch

Question 11

How are cliffs formed

Answer 11

Cliffs are formed when there are rocks that are resistant to weathering and erosion

Question 12

How are stacks formed

Answer 12

Arches that get bigger cannot support the top of the arch and collapses leaving one side called a stack.

Question 13

How do wave cut platforms form

Answer 13

A destructive wave hit against a cliff face eroding it creating a flat area

Question 14

What is a destructive wave

Answer 14

A destructive wave is a wave that takes sediment and erodes rock

Question 15

What is mass movement

Answer 15

Mass movement is when sediment and rocks move downhill due to gravity

Question 16

What is weathering

Answer 16

This is when rock slowly wear and gets eroded away. This is usually due to the weather like wind and rain and also waves

Question 17

What is prevailing winds

Answer 17

Prevailing winds is the direction of wind that is the most frequent wind direction a location experiences

Question 18

What is storm frequency

Answer 18

How frequent a storm is and how strong it is

Question 19

Characteristics of a wave cut platform

Answer 19

A flat area that has been eroded with a cliff behind it

Question 20

What three factors affect wave energy

Answer 20

How long the wind has been blowing
The strength of the wind
How far the wave has travelled which is called fetch

Question 21

Where in the UK has the biggest waves and why

Answer 21

The East of the UK because the waves have been pushed into the english channel due to the wind and cannot go anywhere due to the small space to go through and end up crashing onto shore and rivers.

Question 22

Characteristics of a destructive wave

Answer 22

They are created from big, strong waves when the wind is powerful and has been blowing for a long time.
They erode the coast
They have a stronger backwash than swash.
They have a short wave length and are high and steep.

Question 23

How do rotational slumping mass movement break down the cliff

Answer 23

A slump is rotated backwards and moves a short distance down a cliff and can cause earthquakes, freeze thaw and many other things that could cause mass movement

Question 24

How do rockfalls break down the cliff

Answer 24

Rock falls from the face of the cliff due to gravity. This is made worse by freeze-thaw action loosening the rock. Bare, well-jointed rock is very vulnerable to rockfall. Water enters the joint, freezes and expands, cracking the rock. And continues until the rock is completely shattered.

Question 25

Compare biological, freeze thaw and chemical weathering.

Answer 25

Freeze thaw happens when water gets into cracks and there is a physical change in temperature. This then cracks the rocks. Biological weathering happens when animals and plants go into the cracks with the animals building their burrows and plants having their roots in the ground. Chemicals is when there is a chemical in the air or in rain, like acid rain, and it erodes the rocks that can be eroded by chemicals like chalk.

Question 26

What is abrasion

Answer 26

Bits of rock and sand in waves grind down cliff surfaces just like sand paper does.

Question 27

What is hydraulic action

Answer 27

Air becomes trapped in joints and cracks on a cliff face. When a wave goes onto it, the trapped air is compressed that weakens the cliff and causes erosion.

Question 28

What is attrition

Answer 28

Waves smash rocks and pebbles on the shore into each other, and they break and become smoother.

Question 29

What is solution

Answer 29

Acids contained in sea water will dissolve rocks like chalk.

Question 30

Difference between Traction, saltation, solution and suspension

Answer 30

In solution minerals are dissolved in the water and carried along in solution. In suspension fine light material is carried along in the water. In saltation small pebbles and stones are bounced along the river bed. In traction large boulders and rocks are rolled along the river bed.

Question 31

How does longshore drift work

Answer 31

Long shore drift works by waves taking sediment from the coastline and then moving back to the sea due to gravity and coming back to the shore further down the coastline with a constructive wave depositing the sediment

Question 32

How does a spit form

Answer 32

A spit forms when a prevailing wind is pushing the waves in a direction and LSD is taking sediment and bringing down the coast taking it up to the end of the coastline where it deposites sediment and builds it up making the coastline longer and longer. There also has to be a secondary wind direction for the spit to bend and would not go so far due to how deep the water is there.

Question 33

Characteristics of a spit.

Answer 33

Sand on outside of the spit and mud and grass in the middle. Long, curved and thin at the start and gets wider the further it goes. It is shallow. It is low lying and flat.

Question 34

How do beaches form?

Answer 34

Beaches form when sediment has been eroded from a cliff or headland nearby and the sediment that has been eroded dependes whether the beach would be sandy or have pebbles. The sediment then travels in the dominant wind direction (LSD) until it reaches the bay where it deposites the sediment on shore and creates a beach at a bay.

Question 35

Compare the characteristic of a bar to a spit

Answer 35

A spit has a curve and protects the water behind it but the water behind the spit is still connected to the sea as in a bar it cuts of the sea and leaves a lagoon. Bars connect two places together as a spit cannot do this due to the depth of the water. A bar joins two headlands together as a spit does not join anything but comes off the coastline