Coastal Environments Flashcards
Define Hydraulic Action
The sheer power of waves as they smash into cliffs. Trapped air is blasted into holes and cracks in the rock forcing it to break
Define abrasion
The ‘sandpapering’ effect of rocks over a platform, often causing it to become smooth
Define attrition
Where rocks carried by the sea crash into each other forcing them to become smoother
Define solution as a type of erosion
When seawater dissolves certain types of rock
Define solution as a type of transportaton
The transport of dissolved chemicals and rock
Define suspension
When lighter sediment is suspended (carried) within the water, most commonly near the mouth of the river.
Define saltation
When particles that are too heavy to be suspended are ‘bounced along the seabed
Define traction
Where larger rocks/pebbles are rolled along the sea bed
