coastal systems and landforms PMT Flashcards
Backshore
Upper beach closest to the land, including an cliffs or sand dunes
Abrasion
Form of erosion where loose material ‘sandpapers’ walls and floor of a river, cliff or glacier.
Beach morphology
Surface shape of the beach
Coastal recession
Retreat of a coastline due to erosion, sea-level rise or submergence
Concordant coast
Bands of alternate geology run parallel to the coast
Dalmatian coast
Concordant coastline with several river valley perpendicular to the coast. They become flooded to produce parallel long islands and inlets
Discordant coast
Coastline where bands of alternate geology run perpendicular to the shore
Dynamic equilibrium
Where a natural system tries to achieve balance by making constant change in response to a constantly changing system
Emergent coast
Coastline that is advancing relative to the sea level at the time
Eustatic
Global changes to sea level
Foreshore
Lower part of the beach covered twice a day at high tide (receives most regular wave action)
Freeze thaw
Physical, sub-aerial weathering where water freezes in cracks of rock, expands and weakens the rock
Geology
The structure and arrangement of a rock
Glacial erosion
Removal of lose material by glacier ice involving plucking, abrasion, crushing and basal meltwater
Grading
Layering of sediments based on their size
High energy environment
Coast where wave action is mostly dominated predominant large destructive waves, causing erosion
Impermeable
A rock that does not allow rainwater to pass through
Isostatic
Change in a local coastline or land height relative to sea level.
Littoral cell
A section of the coast, within which involved much sediment movement- not a closed system
Permeable
A rock that allows rainwater to pass through it
Plant succession
Change to a plant community due to growing conditions adapting
Subaerial processes
Combination of mass movement and weathering that affects the coastal land above sea
Submergent coast
Coast that is sinking relative to the sea level of the time
Till
Deposits of angular rock fragments in a finer medium
