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Uk Geographical Issues > Coastal change and conflict > Flashcards

Coastal change and conflict Flashcards

1
Q

What are discordant coastlines?

A
  • If rock beds run perpendicular to the edge of the sea
  • Identifiable by headlands and bays
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2
Q

What are concordant coastlines?

A
  • If rock beds run parallel to the edge of the sea
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3
Q

What can be formed on concordant coastlines?

A
  • Coves and cliffs
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4
Q

How is a cove formed?

A
  • Hard and soft rock must be alternating (concordant coastlines)
  • The hard rock cliff face may suddenly crack as erosion weakens a section of the cliffs
  • Over time, the hard rock erodes to expose the less resistant rock behind it
  • The less resistant rock erodes much quicker than the hard rock, so the cove widens more in the soft rock band
  • Erosion continues to widen the cove, but it can’t extend further inland due to another band of hard rock
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5
Q

What are joints and faults?

A

Joints- small vertical cracks found in nearly all rocks

Faults- larger cracks where a rock has moved, often from past tectonic activity

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6
Q

What are the five coastal processes?

A
  • Erosion
  • Weathering
  • Transportation
  • Mass movement
  • Deposition
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7
Q

What are the five erosion processes?

A

Corrasion
Abrasion
Attrition
Hydraulic action
Corrosion

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8
Q

What is corrasion?

A
  • Sand and pebbles are picked up by the sea and hurled against the cliffs at high tide, causing the cliffs to be eroded
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9
Q

What is abrasion?

A
  • Where sediment scrapes and bangs against the base of a rockface and so gradually wears it away
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10
Q

What is attrition?

A
  • Wave action causes rocks and pebbles to hit against each other, wearing each other down so becoming smaller and rounder
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11
Q

What is hydraulic action?

A
  • As a wave crashes into a cliff or rock face, air is forced into cracks within the rocks
  • The high pressure causes the cracks to force apart and widen when the wave retreats and the air expands- over time this causes the rocks to fracture
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12
Q

What is corrosion?

A
  • Mildly acidic sea water can cause alkaline rock such as limestone to be eroded
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13
Q

How are caves, arches, stacks and stumps formed?

A
  • Marine erosion widens cracks in the base of the headland, these get bigger over time and create a cave
  • The cave widens and deepens due to marine erosion and sub-aerial processes, and eventually a large hole will form through to the other side of the headland- an arch
  • The arch continues to widen until it is unable to support itself, the top falls and a stack is formed
  • Marine erosion effects the base of the stack, and eventually it will collapse into a stump
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14
Q

What are wave cut notches and platforms?

A
  • Marine erosion attacks the base of a cliff, creating a notch of eroded material between high tide height and low tide height
  • As the notch becomes deeper the cliff becomes unstable and falls under its own weight
  • This leaves behind a platform of the unaffected cliff base beneath the wave cut notch
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15
Q

What are the characteristics of constructive waves?

A
  • Strong swash
  • Weak backwash
  • Low wave height
  • Large wavelength
  • Low frequency
  • Depositional
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16
Q

What is swash?

A
  • The force of the waves travelling up a beach
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17
Q

What are the characteristics of destructive waves?

A
  • Strong backwash
  • Weak swash
  • High wave-height
  • Small wavelength
  • High frequency
  • Erosional
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18
Q

What type of beaches are hit by destructive waves normally?

A
  • Typically have rocky headlands and landforms, such as tall cliffs and coves
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19
Q

What type of beaches are normally hit by constructive waves?

A
  • Tend to be sandy beaches
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20
Q

What is fetch?

A
  • The length of water over which the wind has travelled
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21
Q

What affects the size of a wave?

A
  • Strength of the wind
  • How long the wind has been blowing for
  • Water depth
  • Distance of fetch
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22
Q

Describe the process of longshore drift:

A
  • Waves hit the beach at angle determined by the direction of prevailing winds
  • The waves push sediment in this direction and up the beach in the swash
  • Due to gravity, the wave then carries sediment back down the beach in backwash
  • This moves sediment along the beach over time
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23
Q

What is deposition?

A
  • Occurs when a wave loses energy meaning the sediment becomes too heavy to carry
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23
Q

What are different types of depositional landforms?

A
  • Beaches
  • Spits
  • Bars
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24
Q

What are beaches?

A
  • Large deposits of sand and shingle
  • Caused by constructive waves hitting a coastline
  • Beaches typically have berms- ridges where high tide reaches and deposits a ridge of sand and materials
25
Q

What is a spit?

A
  • A long, narrow strip of land which is formed due to deposition
  • Longshore drift occurs along a coastline but as waves lose energy they deposit their sediment, which eventually forms a spit
26
Q

What can a spit go onto form?

A
  • Prevailing wind direction will change, causing a hook to form
  • The sheltered area behind a spit can become a salt marsh
  • Bars
27
Q

What are bars?

A
  • They can be formed from spits, but only in certain locations
  • A bar is a spit that has grown across the mouth of a bay- this creates a lagoon, which can eventually become a freshwater lake
  • Ocassionally a bar can be made between a spit and an island, which is known as a barrier beach
28
Q

What are the three types of weathering processes?

A
  • Mechanical
  • Chemical
  • Biological
29
Q

Describe mechanical weathering:

A
  • The breakdown of rocks due to the exertion of physical forces
  • Such as Freeze Thaw weathering, where water enters cracks in rocks, freezes and expands, which causes cracks to form
30
Q

Describe chemical weathering:

A
  • Breakdown of rocks through chemical reactions
  • Most common type is carbonation, where acid rain reacts with calcium carbonate in rocks to form a chemical compound that can easily be dissolved
31
Q

What are the different types of mas movement?

A

Rock falls
Landslides
Mudflow
Rotational slip

32
Q

Describe the different types of mass movement:

A

Rock falls
- Occur on sloped cliffs when the rock becomes exposed to mechanical weathering

Landslides
- Water between sheets of rock and the rock face reduces friction and allows large chunks of rock to slide down the cliff

Mudflow
- Saturated soil flows down the face of a hill like a fluid, bulging at the bottom in a lobe

Rotational Slip
- Also known as slumps, soil and rock fragments become saturated with water, and chunks of rock and soil ‘slip’, creating ‘heads’ down the cliff face

33
Q

What are human activities on the coast?

A

Housing
Tourism
Business offices
Agriculture
Industry

34
Q

Why is there housing on the coast?

A
  • Coastal towns and villages are popular to live in due to their natural beauty and quieter lifestyle compared to a city
  • However, as demand for coastal housing increases, house prices increase and housing estates develop, meaning towns can lose their charms
35
Q

Why is there tourism on the coast?

A
  • Coastlines are tourist attractions as many people visit them for holidays, to visit beaches or to do water sports and sea activities
  • This can benefit locals as many work within the tourism sector, but lots of tourists can also cause overcrowding and pollution
36
Q

Why are there business offices on the coast?

A
  • Some offices relocate to the coast to avoid high rent prices in the city centre
  • This brings regular income for locals, but new building developments can destroy natural environments and increase the number of people living in and commuting to a place
37
Q

Describe agriculture on the coast?

A
  • As the price of land at the coast increases, farmers have to increase their profits with what land they have
  • This adds pressure to the land, since farmers will be farming more intensively, which can damage vegetation
38
Q

Why are industries found on the coast?

A
  • Some require a large volume of water during industrial processes
  • These sites are of high economic value so must be protected from risks at the coast
39
Q

What are risks to the coastline?

A
  • Storm surges in areas of low pressure, causing flooding
  • Risk of coastal flooding increasing due to global warming
  • Increased frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change
  • Rising sea levels can increase rate of erosion
40
Q

Why are some properties more at risk of falling into the sea?

A

Geology of cliffs
- Soft rock will erode faster than hard rock

Increased weathering on the top of the cliff
- More vegetation growing, lots of walkers trampling rocks, increased cold weather

Type of waves hitting the cliff face
- Destructive waves cause more erosion than constructive

41
Q

What are the three types of management?

A

Hard engineering
Soft engineering
Managed retreat

42
Q

What is hard engineering?

A
  • Using man-made, artificial structures to reduce or halt erosion
  • Often very effective at preventing erosion in a desired place, but they’re high cost and have a significant environmental impact due to the use of concrete etc
43
Q

What is soft engineering?

A
  • Uses more natural materials to reduce erosion
  • Aims to complement the physical environment by using natural methods of coastal defence
44
Q

What is managed retreat?

A
  • Allow erosion rates to carry on unchanged, but instead monitor the rates and try to adapt it in the future
45
Q

What are economic values that should be considered in management?

A
  • How many jobs depend on the coast?
  • Will industry be lost if erosion continues?
  • What will insurance costs be?
46
Q

What are social values that should be considered in management?

A
  • Is the coast historic or a location of cultural importance?
  • Do events or festivals happen here?
  • Is the coast home to a village or town?
47
Q

What are environmental values that should be considered in management?

A
  • Are there any rare or endangered species living along the coastline?
  • Would nature reserves be at risk?
  • Are there any farms at risk?
48
Q

What are soft engineering projects for coastal management?

A
  • Dune stabilisation
  • Beach nourishment
49
Q

What is dune stablisation?

A
  • Marram grass is planted
  • The roots help bind the dunes, protecting land behind
50
Q

What are the pros and cons of dune stabilisation?

A

PROS
- Cost effective and creates an important wildlife habitat
- Relatively cheap and minimum impact on the environment

CONS
- Planting is time consuming
- Can be easily damaged in a storm

51
Q

What is beach nourishment?

A
  • Sand is added to the beach to replace the material lost through erosion and transportation
52
Q

What are the pros and cons of beach nourishment?

A

PROS
- Maintains the beach, which is a big tourist attraction
- Blends in with the rest of the beach so it isn’t unattractive

CONS
- Large quantities of sand needed on a regular basis

53
Q

What are 4 forms of hard engineering?

A

Groynes
Sea Walls
Rock armour
Revetments

54
Q

What are groynes?

A

Timber or rock protrusions that trap sediment from long shore drift

55
Q

What are the pros and cons of groynes?

A

PROS
- Build up beach, protecting cliff and increasing tourist potential
- Cost effective

CONS
- Visually unappealing
- Deprives areas downwind of sediment increasing erosion elsewhere

56
Q

What are seawalls?

A

Concrete structures that absorb and reflect wave energy, with curved surfaces

57
Q

What are the pros and cons of seawalls?

A

PROS
- Effective erosion prevention
- Promenade has tourist benefits

CONS
- Visually unappealing
- Expensive to construct and maintain
- Wave energy reflected elsewhere, with impacts on erosion rates

58
Q

What is rock armour?

A

Large rocks that reduce wave energy, but allow water to flow through

59
Q

What are the pros and cons of rock armour?

A

PROS
- Cost effective

CONS
- Rocks are sourced from elsewhere so don’t fit with natural geology
- Pose a hazard if climbed on

60
Q

What are revetments?

A

Wooden or concrete ramps that help absorb wave energy

61
Q

What are the pros and cons of revetments?

A

PROS
- Cost effective

CONS
- Visually unappealing
- Can need constant maintenance, which creates an additional cost

Uk Geographical Issues (10 decks)

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