coastal landscapes

Question 1

What is chemical weathering?

Answer 1

Rocks reacting with slightly acidic water e.g. limestone dissolved by carbonation.

Question 2

What is biological weathering?

Answer 2

Action of plants and animals, causing rock to split apart.

Question 3

What is mechanical weathering?

Answer 3

Water falls into cracks in rocks and freezes, causing it to expand over time the repeated thawing and freezing causes the rock to break apart.

Question 4

How does mass movement work on the coast?

Answer 4

Mass movement is downhill movement of material under influence of gravity.

Question 5

What are the types of mass movement vary according to?

Answer 5

Material involved, amount of water in material, type of movement e.g. sliding.

Question 6

What is abrasion?

Answer 6

Breaking waves throw sand, pebbles and boulders against coast during storms.

Question 7

What is hydraulic action?

Answer 7

Sheer weight and impact of water against coastline, particulary during storm, erodes coast. Also waves compress air in joints in rocks, forcing them apart.

Question 8

What is solution?

Answer 8

Chemical action of seawater dissolves some rocks.

Question 9

What is longshore drift?

Answer 9

Process by which beach sediment can be transpoted along coast by waves.(see revisin guide).

Question 10

How does longshore dirft transport material along the coastline?

Answer 10

Directin of material movement determined by prevaling wind direction. Waves approach coastline at acute angle, bringing sediment onto beach in swash. sediment then dragged back to sea in backswash, under force of gravity at a right angle. Process continues in zigzag pattern, moving sediment along beach.

Question 11

What is traction?

Answer 11

Latge boulders are rolled along seabed by waves.

Question 12

What is saltation?

Answer 12

Smaller stones are bounced along seabed.

Question 13

What is suspension?

Answer 13

Sand and small particles are carried along in the flow.

Question 14

What is solution?

Answer 14

Some minerals are dissolved in seawater and carried along in the flow.

Question 15

What is deposition?

Answer 15

Load carried by waves is deposited by constructive waves.

Question 16

What are the different factors that influence dieposition?

Answer 16

Sheltered spots e.g. bays.
Calm conditions.
Gentle gradient offshore causing friction. All reduce wave’s energy.

Question 17

What is geological structure?

Answer 17

Geology affects how fast coastal erosion occurs. Soft rock is eroded much faster than hard rock. Particular landforms are created when soft rocks and hard rocks occur together.

Question 18

How does soft rock influence a coastline?

Answer 18

Easily eroded by sea. Cliffs will be less rugged and less steep than hard rock coasts. Soft rock landscapes include bays.

Question 19

How does hard rock affect the coastline?

Answer 19

Resistant to all types of erosion. Cliffs will be high, steep and rugged. Hard rock landscapes include wave-cut platforms and headlands where caves, arches and stacks are formed.

Question 20

What are concordant and disconcordent coasts?

Answer 20

Concordant coasts are made up of same rock type. Disconcordent coasts, rock type alternates, forming headlands and bays.

Question 21

What are joints and faults?

Answer 21

Joints are smaller cracks, faults are larger. Both make rock more prone to erosion. Rocks with more joints and faults are eroded more quickly.

Question 22

What is a destructive wave?

Answer 22

Swash is weak and backswash strong. Material is dragged into sea, eroding coast. Destructive waves have high energy, and occur in stormy conditions.

Question 23

What are constructive waves?

Answer 23

Material is deposited building coast. Constuctivewaves have lower energy and occur in calm conditions.

Question 24

What is seasonality?

Answer 24

4 seasons have different impacts on coastal erosion. e.g. cold temperatures in winter lead to freeze-thaw weathering in cliffs.

Question 25

What are the effects of story weather?

Answer 25

Coasts are often subject to strong winds, incerasing eroding power of waves, and heavy rainfall contributes to mass movement. Frequent storms can damage coastal landforms like spits. Spurn Head along Holderness coast is at risk of neing cut off mainland. Beach sediment can be removed from seaction of coastline. Sand dunes can be removed by storms.

Question 26

What is a prevaling wind?

Answer 26

In UK come from south-west. Brings warm, moist air from Atlantic and frequent rainfall, contributes to weathering and mass movement on coast.

Question 27

What is coastal erosion?

Answer 27

Breaking down and removal of material along coast.

Question 28

What is coastal retreat?

Answer 28

When coastal erosion causes coastline to move further inland.

Question 29

What are headlands and bays?

Answer 29

Develop on coastlines with mix of hard and soft rock. Often occur where cliffs have fault lines or joints. Hard rocks like chalk are often left jutting out in sea, forming headlands. Soft rocks e.g. sands are eroded, more quickly, forming bays.

Question 30

What are cliffs?

Answer 30

Cliffs are common coastal features. Cliffs are shaped through weathering and erosions. Soft rock erodes easily to create gently slping cliffs. Hard rock erodes more slowly to create steep cliffs.

Question 31

What are wave-cut platforms?

Answer 31

Erosion of cliffs can create wave-cut platforms-areas of flat rock at ase of cliff.

Question 32

What are beaches?

Answer 32

Accumliations of sand and shingle formed by dfeposition and shaped by erosion, transportation and deposition.

Question 33

What is a spit?

Answer 33

Narrow beaches of sand that are attached to land at 1 end. Extend across bay or estuary or where coastline changes direction. Formed by longshore drift powered by strong prevaling wind.

Question 34

What are the positives and negitives of urbanisation on the coastline?

Answer 34

Weight of buildings makes cliffs more vunreble. Vahnges to drainage increases soil saturation. Raises intrest in protecting coastal landscapes.

Question 35

What are the positives and negitives of agriculture on the coastline?

Answer 35

Increases soil erosion, increases sedimentation, creates wildlife habitats.

Question 36

What are the positives and negitives of industry on the coastline?

Answer 36

Increases air, noise and visula pollution, can destroy habitates for birds, animals and sealife. Brings wealth and jobs to an area.

Question 37

What are the effects of coastal recession and flooding?

Answer 37

Wildlife habitats destroyed, loss of people’s homes, increased deposition further along coast, loss of businesses from disappearing cliffs, decreasing value of properties and diffulties in obtaining home insurance, disruption to communication networks-roads and railway lines-creating difficulties for commuters, cliffs became dangerous for walkers.

Question 38

What is coastal recession another term for?

Answer 38

coastal retreat.

Question 39

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sea walls?

Answer 39

Protect cliffs and buidingsm more expensive £5000-£10,000 per meter.

Question 40

What aare the positives and negitives of groynes?

Answer 40

Prevent sea removing sand, exposes other coastal areas, cheaper-£2,000 per meter of timber.

Question 41

What are teh positives and negitives of rip rap?

Answer 41

Rocks absorb wave energy, cheaper £1,000-£3,000 per meter.

Question 42

What are the positives of beach replenishment?

Answer 42

Sand reduces wave energy, maintains tourism, cheaper £2,000 per metre.

Question 43

What are the positives and negitives of offshore reef?

Answer 43

Waves break on reef and lose power, may interfere with fishing, more expensive £5,000 per metre.

Question 44

What is the definition of hard engeneering?

Answer 44

Hard engineering options tend to be expensive, short-term options. They may also have a high impact on the landscape or environment and be unsustainable.

Question 45

What is the definition of soft engeneering?

Answer 45

Use of ecological principles and practicies to reduce erosion and achieve stabilisatoin and saftey of shorelines and area surrounding rivers, while enchancing habitat, improving aesthetics, and saving money.

Question 46

What is the significance of location for holderness coast?

Answer 46

Soft boulder clas easily eroded, susceptible to slumping after heavy rainfall; chalk is more resistant (Flamborough Head). Exposed to strong waves (fetch) from North Sea.

Question 47

What physical processes are at work at the coast?

Answer 47

Coastal erosion: combination of strong waves and rock type ensure coast eroded rapidly.
Mass movement: clay frequently slumps from cliffs after rainfall.
Transport: strong waved move eroded material away from coastline; depostion happens further south.

Question 48

What human processes affect the coastline?

Answer 48

Hard engineering on parts of coast have protected areas from erosion and cliff collapse. Hard engineering in some places has prevented transport making erosion worse in other places.

Question 49

What changes affect the coastline?

Answer 49

Some parts undergoing coastal retreat at rate of nearly 2 meters per year. Farmland, property and settlements have been lost to sea, changing landscape permanently