Coastal Landscapes Flashcards
Destructive waves… (action, characteristics)
Erode the beach, stronger backwash than swash, frequent waves (11 times a minute) common in winter
Constructive waves… (action, characteristics)
Construct the beach, stronger swash than backwash, most common in summer, low and long
3 types of weathering are…
Mechanical - Freeze-thaw, creating stress in a rock as it expands
Chemical - acid rain (carbonic acid) gradually dissolves rocks
Biological - rocks are broken by plant roots and animals burrowing
Mass movement types -
Rockfalls, landslides, rotational slip, slumping
Hydraulic action is… - Coasts
Where water is forced into cracks and compressed air pockets, creating cracks in rock
Abrasion is… - Coasts
Where waves pick up loose sediment, hurling it at cliffs.
Attrition is… - Coasts
Where material carried by waves becomes rounded and smaller over time
Solution is… - Coasts
Where rocks become eroded by partially acidic sea water, such as limestone and chalk
Traction is… - Coasts
Where large stones or pebbles are rolled along the seabed
Saltation is… - Coasts
Where smaller stones and pebbles bounce along the seabed
Suspension is… - Coasts
Where very light sediment particles are carried in the water, suspended above the seabed
Solution is… - Coasts
Where soluble particles are dissolved into the seawater and carried
Longshore drift is…
Where destructive waves swash up the beach at an angle and the backwash taking the waves away straight, transporting sediment along a beach when waves are destructive.
Bays and headlands are formed…
On discordant coastlines, where alternating bands of soft and hard rock mean that some areas are eroded more than others, creating headlands and bays.
Cliffs and wave cut platforms are formed…
By a small notch being eroded at the level of high tide on a cliff. This notch continues to erode, until the weight of the cliff is too heavy and this collapses, forming a wave cut platform, which is then smoothed by abrasion.
