Booklet 1- What are coasts and how do they operate as a system?

Question 1

What are coasts?

Answer 1

• Dynamic place where sea and land meet
  -affected by atmospheric and marine processes
  -42% of UK live within 10km of the coast
  -10% of all people live less than 10m above sea level

Question 2

Coasts as a natural system

Answer 2

• Inputs-tides, cliff erosion, rivers
• Outputs-cliffs, wave-cut platforms
• Flows-longshore-drift, currents, tides
• Stores-beaches, bars, offshore spits/bars

Question 3

What is a control of a system

Answer 3

• External factors that impacts the system EG different geology

Question 4

What is a sediment budget?

Answer 4

• The balance between sediment inputs and outputs

Question 5

Types of equilibrium

Answer 5

• Steady state equilibrium
• Meta state equilibrium
• Dynamic equilibrium

Question 6

Steady state equilibrium

Answer 6

• Where the shoreline doesnt deviate from the long-term average as everythings balenced like outputs
  -beaches remain unaltered, cliffs are stable

Question 7

Meta state equilibrium

Answer 7

• Balance exists most of the time but sudden events shift the steady state into na new equilibrium which eventually goes back to steady state
  -storms can bring new energy and alter the shoreline

Question 8

Dynamic equilibrium

Answer 8

• Is where there are gradual adjustments into a new state as one or more components show long term changes over time

Question 9

What effects the dynamic equilibrium?

Answer 9

• The sand supply
• The sea level-New Zealand sea level rise
• The location of the shoreline
• The waves