Coastal Landscapes in the UK Flashcards
What is erosion
The wearing away and removal of material by a moving force
What are the four types of erosion
Attrition
Abrasion
Solution
Hydraulic action
What is abrasion
Rocks carried along a riverwear down the riverbed and banks.
What is another definition of abrasion
The sandpaper affect of glacial ice scouring a valley’s floors and sides. This is pebbles grinding a rocky platform
What is attrition
Rocks carried by the river, then smash and break together, releasing small and tiny particles
What is solution
The dissolving of rocks such as limestone and chalk via seawater
What is hydraulic action
The process where breaking waves compress air in cliff cracks. Due to a high pressure the crack is widened, breaking the rock
What is deposition
When material is dropped by the sea, losing energy
What are examples of depositional landforms
Beaches
Spit
Bars
Sand dunes
What are two types of beaches
Sand beaches
Shingle beaches
What is the difference between both beaches
They are both shown as yellow beaches, however shingle beaches are also shown as white sometimes
What is a beach
A zone of deposited material that extends from the low water line to limit of storm waves
What is a spit
Depositional landform when a finger of sediment extends from shore out to sea, often at a river mouth
What is a bar
When a spit grows across a bar.
What is a salt marsh
An important natural habitat found in sheltered river estuaries behind spits with short flow of water
What is longshore drift
Transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves, approaching the beach at an angle
What is a headland
Highpoint of land made of rock, that is erosion resistant. Headlands lie between bays of less resistant rock, where land is eroded by the sea
What is a bay
A wide coastal inlet, often with a beach, where areas of less resistant rock are eroded into the sea
What is a landform
Physical feature of Earth’s surface
What are the four types of coastal transportation
Solution
Traction
Suspension
Saltation
What is saltation
Hopping movement of pebbles down a riverbed
What is suspension
Small particles carried in river flow
What is traction
Heavy particles rolled along a seabed
What is a wave cut platform
Rocky level shelf around the sea, representing an old and retreated cliff
How is a wave cut platform formed
- Waves release most of their erosive energy
- The area of the cliff targeted to erosion is the point where the waves break
- A wave cut notch is formed, and is carved into the cliff where the waves break
- The overhanging cliff will become unstable and unsupported
- The overhanging rock will collapse
- This leaves a wave cut platform which will not erode due to abrasion
What is a cave
A large hole in a cliff caused by waves forcing their way into cracks in the cliff face
What is an arch
A wave eroded passage through a small headland.
What is a stack
An isolated rock pillar
How are cracks, caves, arches, stumps and stacks formed
- Abrasion and hydraulic action widen the joint, which forms a cave
- Erosion leads to back to back caves, breaking through a headland to create an arch
- The arch is enlarged by erosion and weathering processes which make the top of the arch collapse
- This leaves a stack
- The stack erodes and collapses, leaving a stump
What is weathering
Weakening or decay of rocks in their original place
What are the 3 main types of weathering
Physical
Chemical
Biological
What is chemical weathering
Weathering caused by climate change
What is biological weathering
Weathering caused by living things
What is physical weathering
Weathering caused by rock movements
What is freeze thaw weathering
Weathering in a glacial environment, involving repeated cycles of freezing and thawing, making rock cracks bigger
What is salt weathering
Weathering where salt crystals grow and expand in cracks and holes in the rock
What is mass movement
Movement of material downslope due to gravity.
What are the 4 types of mass movement
Rotational slip
Mudflow
Landslide
Rockfall