coastal environments

Question 1

What is abrasion?

Answer 1

when material being transported wears away at a surface over time. carried by rivers glaciers the sea and wind

Question 2

What is an arch?

Answer 2

a coastal feature formed by the meeting of two caves cut into either side of headland

Question 3

What is attrition?

Answer 3

the gradual wearing down of particles by erosion as they collide with each other, making them smaller and rounder

Question 4

What is backwash?

Answer 4

water from a breaking wave which flows under gravity down a beach and returns to the sea

Question 5

What is a Bar?

Answer 5

a ridge like accumulation of coastal sediment exposed at low tide

Question 6

What is a bay?

Answer 6

a wide coastal inlet that is open to the sea

Question 7

What is beach replenishment?

Answer 7

dredging or pumping sand and shingle from the seabed to replace material that has been erode from a beach

Question 8

What is a beach?

Answer 8

an accumulation of coastal sediment most often occurring in sheltered areas along the coast

Question 9

What is berm?

Answer 9

a ridge of sand or shingle towards the top of the beach with a steep seaward slope

Question 10

What is a cave?

Answer 10

a hollow cut by the sea into the base of a cliff

Question 11

What is cliff regrading?

Answer 11

the deliberate lowering of an angle of a cliff face to make it safer and reduce landslides or collapse

Question 12

What is a cliff?

Answer 12

a steep rock slope usually facing the sea

Question 13

What is coastal cell?

Answer 13

a segment of coastline which is self contained in terms of the movement of sand and shingle

Question 14

What is coastal management

Answer 14

looking after the coast and resolving any conflicts between users of the coast

Question 15

What is a coastline?

Answer 15

the actual border between the land and the sea

Question 16

What is a concordant coast?

Answer 16

a coastline created when alternating soft rock and hard rock occur one after another parallel to the sea and eroded at different rates

Question 17

What is corrosion?

Answer 17

the chemical erosion of rock over surfaces

Question 18

What is cuspate foreland?

Answer 18

a triangular mass of sand and shingle deposited on t he coast where waves converge from opposite directions

Question 19

What is deposition?

Answer 19

the dropping of material that was being carried by a moving force, such as running water.

Question 20

What is a discordant coast?

Answer 20

a coastline created when alternating bands of hard and soft rock occur at right angles to the coast and are eroded at different rates

Question 21

What is an emergent coast?

Answer 21

a coastline that is experiencing either uplift of the land or a fall in sea level

Question 22

What is erosion?

Answer 22

the wearing away and removal of material by a moving force, such as running water

Question 23

What is an estuary?

Answer 23

the mouth of a river as it enters the sea

Question 24

What is a fetch?

Answer 24

the distance a wave has travelled from its origins to the coast where it breaks

Question 25

What is a fjord?

Answer 25

a long, narrow arm of the sea which is the result of the 'drowning' of a glaciated valley.

Question 26

What is hard engineering?

Answer 26

protecting the coast by building such structures as sea walls and groynes

Question 27

What is a headland?

Answer 27

an area of land jutting out into the sea

Question 28

What is hold the line?

Answer 28

a coastal management strategy aimed at protecting the coast and maintaining the coastline as it is

Question 29

What is hydraulic action?

Answer 29

erosion caused by the force of moving water

Question 30

What is a lagoon?

Answer 30

a bay totally or partially shut off from the sea by a bar or reef running across the entrance

Question 31

What is longshore drift?

Answer 31

the movement of sediments along the coast by wave action

Question 32

What is managed retreat?

Answer 32

a coastal management strategy of deliberately allowing the coastline to retreat but in such a way as to minimize possible damage

Question 33

What is marine reserve?

Answer 33

an area of the sea with some special or rare features (plant and animal life, coastal scenery, etc.) thought to be worth protection from human exploitation.

Question 34

What is mass movement?

Answer 34

the movement of weathered material down a slope or cliff due to the force of gravity

Question 35

What is a raised beach?

Answer 35

a former beach now standing above sea level and some meters inland

Question 36

What is a relict cliff?

Answer 36

a cliff that now lies above the reach of the sea due to a fall in sea level or a rise in the land.

Question 37

What is a ria?

Answer 37

the seaward end of a river valley that has been flooded as a result of a rise in sea level

Question 38

What is

Answer 38

any material ranging in size from fine silt to large boulders which has been transported and deposited, as for example by the sea or a river.

Question 39

What is

Answer 39

a form of mass movement in which material slides downslope and rotates backwards as it does so.

Question 40

What is

Answer 40

protecting the coast by working with nature.

Question 41

What is

Answer 41

a type of mass movement involving the slow downslope movement of soil under the influence of gravity.

Question 42

What is

Answer 42

the washing or blowing away of topsoil so that the fertility of the remaining soil is greatly reduced.

Question 43

What is

Answer 43

material deposited by the sea that grows across a bay or estuary.

Question 44

What is

Answer 44

a detached column of rock located just off-shore and usually caused by the collapse of an arch.