Coastal Environments Flashcards
What is the coast
The zone of transition between land and sea
How far does the offshore zone extend from land
As far as 370km
How far does the onshore zone extend
Up to 60km inland
What affects the size and energy of a wave (3)
- The strength of the wind
- The length of time the wind has been blowing for
- The distance over which the winds had been blowing (the fetch)
How do waves work
- Created by wind blowing over surface of sea
- As the wind blows, friction is created producing a swell in the water
- Energy in the wind causes water particles to rotate inside the swell, moving the wave forward
- As waves near the coast, they enter shallower waters friction with the sea bed causes the wave to tip forwards so that it eventually breaks
What is the backwash
The water that flows back towards the sea
What is the swash
The water that rushes up the beach
What is a constructive wave and what effect will it have on the beach
Where the swash is greater than the backwash - the beach is built up as sediment is deposited
What is a destructive wave and what does it do to the beach
The backwash is stronger than the swash - the beach is eroded
What is wave refraction and what does it cause
The “bending” of wave fronts caused by the speed of the waves being reduced by friction with the sea floor, causing headlands to receive high energy waves and bays to receive low energy waves, so there is more erosion on the headlands
How do constitutive and destructive waves differ on the eye (2)
- Destructive are tall and steep and close together, but constructive are low and further apart
- Destructive 13-15 per minute, constructive 6-8 per minute
What conditions form constructive and destructive waves
Stormy - destructive
Clear - constructive
What is hydraulic action
Waves smashing against cliff. Air becomes trapped in cracks and causes rocks to crack
What is the biggest contributor to erosion of the processes of erosion
Hydraulic action
What is abrasion
When pebbles grind along a rock platform, making it smooth, like sandpaper
What is attrition
When rocks in the sea knock against each other, breaking apart to become smaller and more rounded
What is solution as a process of erosion
When sea water dissolves certain rocks e.g. limestone and chalk
What is longshore drift
Sediment is carried by the waves along the coastline - straight up onto the beach from the swash, but then the backwash is diagonal. This is repeated along a zigzag movement
What is deposition
When the sea loses energy it drops the material it has been carrying. This can be due to 1. Shallow water 2. Sheltered areas e.g. bays 3. Drop in wind, e.g. after a storm
What is solution as a process of transportation
When minerals in rock e.g. chalk and limestone are dissolved in seawater and carried in solution
What is suspension
Small particles such as silts and clays are suspended in the flow of the water
What is saltation
Where small pieces of shingle or large sand grains are bounced along the sea bed
What is traction
Where pebbles and larger material are rolled along the sea bed
What are the 3 types of weathering
Mechanical
Biological
Chemical
What is freeze-thaw
Water gets into cracks in rock. When temperature drops, the water freezes and expands by 9% causing the crack to widen
What is salt crystallisation as weathering
When seawater evaporates out of cracks in rock, salt crystals are formed, which over time expand, breaking the rock
What is biological weathering
Animals and plants e.g. roots pushing down into rocks or animals burrowing into rocks
What is chemical weathering
Mildly acidic water reacting with minerals in the rock, most commonly calcium carbonate
What is slumping and why does it happen
Waves erode the cliff base, then rainwater saturates the cliff material, so it slumps in step-like layers. Usually happens to softer rock
What is sliding and why does it occur
When material just slides down the cliff - mud (mudslide) or rocks (landslide). Happens when the surface of the cliff is much weaker than the underlying layers
What is geology in coastlines
The arrangement of rock types that make up a costal environment e.g. discordant or conorcdant.
Rocks are made up of bedding planes (layers). The direction of these can make cliffs more susceptible to collapsing
What is a discordant coastline
The cliffs are perpendicular to the way the sea hits
What is a concordant coastline
The cliffs are parallel to the direction of the waves
What is lithology in coastlines
Refers to the characteristics of a specific rock e.g. mudstone is a soft rock.
Permeable, grainy rock types will erode quickly
How could vegetation affect a coastline (3)
Vegetation e.g. mangroves can protect coastlines and reduce erosion
On sand dunes, vegetation encourages deposition of material by wind
Afforestation (planting vegetation that was not there before) schemes are often used to strengthen vulnerable coasts.
What is a wave cut notch
An overhang created because the seas only attacks the base of the cliff
What process creates a wave cut notch
Undercutting
How do cliffs retreat
- Overhangs are created through undercutting
- Eventually the overhanging part of the cliff becomes too unsupported and falls
- The cycle again repeats
Why are headlands and bays created
Soft rock is eroded quicker than hard rock so areas with soft rock become eroded (bays) whereas areas of harder rock erode much slower (headlands). This process is called differential erosion
What is a wave cut platform and how is it formed
In cliff retreat, as overhangs fall, a gently sloping platform of hard rock visible at low tide is formed
Why are bays sheltered from waves
As waves approach the coast, many are refracted and converge on the headlands, so they stay away form bays
What is a cave
A hollow formed within a headland but that does not go all the way through
What is an arch
A cave that goes all the way through the headland
What is a stack
An isolated column of rock where an arch has collapsed in on itself
What are stumps
Bases of stacks that have collapsed
How are stumps formed (last step, but e.g. for arches you can just stop explaination at the arch part)
- The joints between bedding planes are eroded via hydraulic action, creating cracks
- The cracks eventually turn into caves after more hydraulic action
- When 2 caves back into each other, an arch is formed
- Weathering processes especially freeze-thaw weaken the roof of the arch, so it eventually falls, leaving behind a stack
- As the stack is further impacted by weathering, it eventually becomes a stump, which cannot be seen at high tide
What is a spit and how is it formed
An extended stretch of beach material that projects out to sea and is joined to the mainland at one point.
- Sudden change in coastline shape/direction
- Longshore drift momentum keeps taking the material the original way
- Over time sediment builds up
How is a salt marsh formed
In an area behind a spit - the water here is stagnant and low energy
How is a lagoon formed
An area of water enclosed by a bar
What is a bar and how is it formed
Formed the same as a spit - a bar is just a spit that extended far enough to reach the mainland again. They form over the mouth of a river, harbour or bay
What is a tombolo
A spit that connects the mainland to an island
Where are most of the world’s coral reefs
Intertropical (between +-30º)
What conditions are needed for coral reefs to form (6)
- Shallow water (to get sunlight)
- 23-25ºC water
- Clear water (sunlight)
- Specific PH
- Clean water
- Salt water
What is the organism that is symbiotic with coral polyps
Zooxanthellae
What is coral made of
Calcium carbonate
What is the animal in coral
Polyps
What are the 3 types of coral reef
Fringing reefs
Barrier reefs
Atolls
What are atoll reefs
Circular reefs encircling a lagoon
What are Barrier reefs
Reefs forméd in shallower zones of ocean out to sea
What are fringing reefs
Reefs that form in shallow waters around landmasses
What can the word mangrove mean
The plant or the ecosystem
What must plants be if they live in a mangrove (3)
- Salt-tolerant
- Able to thrive in oxygen-poor soils
- Able to cope with frequently changing aquatic conditions due to tides, because it is on the margin between land and sea
Where do mangroves grow in the world (3 requirements)
- Between 32ºN and 38ºS
- In sheltered, intertidal areas
- High annual rainfall
Which 4 countries have 41% of the world’s mangroves
Indonesia
Brazil
Nigeria
Australia