Coastal Landscapes and Change EQ1

Question 1

Natural breaks in the strata

Answer 1

Bedding planes

Question 2

The height and angle of a cliff face as well as its features, such as wave-cut notches or changes in slope angle

Answer 2

Cliff profile

Question 3

The deposition of sediment at the coast and the seaward growth of the coastline, creating new land

Answer 3

Coastal accretion

Question 4

The land gradually slopes towards the sea across an area of deposited sediment e.g. sand dunes or mud flats; usually found in low energy coastlines

Answer 4

Coastal plains (alluvial coasts)

Question 5

When rock strata run parallel to the coastline

Answer 5

Concordant coastlines

Question 6

The angle at which the rock strata lie

Answer 6

Dip

Question 7

When different resistant rock strata intersect the coast at an angle

Answer 7

Discordant coastline

Question 8

The balanced state of a system when inputs and outputs balance over time

Answer 8

Dynamic equilibrium

Question 9

Where the coasts are rising relative to sea level e.g. due to tectonic uplift

Answer 9

Emergent coasts

Question 10

Major fractures in rocks produced by tectonic forces and involving the displacement of rocks on either side of the faultline

Answer 10

Faults

Question 11

The arrangement of rocks in three dimensions - strata, deformation and faulting

Answer 11

Geological structure

Question 12

Plants that can tolerate salt water

Answer 12

Halophyte

Question 13

Exposed coasts facing prevailing winds with long wave fetches resulting in powerful waves

Answer 13

High energy coastlines

Question 14

Where material such as sand, gravel and clay have been compacted under pressure and turned to rock

Answer 14

Lithification

Question 15

The characteristics of the rock (rock type and resistance, porosity, permeability, presence of fissures, joints and bedding planes etc)

Answer 15

Lithology

Question 16

The wider coastal zone including adjacent land areas and shallow parts of the sea just offshore

Answer 16

Littoral zone

Question 17

Sheltered coasts with limited fetch and low wind speeds resulting in small waves

Answer 17

Low energy coastlines

Question 18

The changing structure of a plant community over time as an area of initially bare sediment is colonised by plants

Answer 18

Plant succession

Question 19

The pressure water experiences at a particular point below the water table due to the weight of water above it

Answer 19

Pore water pressure

Question 20

Dominated by land-based processes such as deposition from rivers or new land from lava flows

Answer 20

Primary coasts

Question 21

Resistant rocks, with cliffs varying in height from a few metres to hundreds of metres; usually found in high energy environments

Answer 21

Rocky coastlines

Question 22

Dominated by marine erosion or deposition processes from the sea

Answer 22

Secondary coasts

Question 23

Where coasts are being flooded by the sea, either due to rising sea levels and/or subsiding land

Answer 23

Submergent coasts

Question 24

Material such as sand, gravel, clay and silt that has not been compacted and cemented to become sedimentary rock

Answer 24

Unconsolidated sediment

Question 25

The bending of waves around a headland

Answer 25

Wave refraction

Question 26

Plants that can tolerate very dry conditions

Answer 26

Xerophyte