coastal systems - coasts as natural systems

Question 1

what is the coast

Answer 1

part of the land near the sea; the edge of the land

Question 2

what system is a coastline

Answer 2

open system - inputs, processes, outputs, interacts with surroundings

Question 3

what are the input of a coastline

Answer 3

geology of the coastline
marine (waves, tides, currents)
geology (rock type, structure, tectonics)
people (urban planning, housing, industry, coastal management, leisure)
atmospheric (climate, weather, climate change)

Question 4

what are the processes of a coastline

Answer 4

deposition
erosion
weathering

Question 5

what are the outputs of a coastline

Answer 5

landforms of erosion (caves, cracks, stacks, stumps, wave cut platforms, blowholes)
land forms of deposition (beaches, spits, tombols, sand dunes, salt marshes)

Question 6

how can coasts be classefied

Answer 6

erosional or depositional - varies with systemic energy
sediment type
submergent or emergent - linked to sea level change
tectonic setting
process based - wave dominant, tide dominant and wind dominant

Question 7

what landforms are found at wave dominant coasts

Answer 7

Highest energy coastline
shore platforms
cliffs
beaches
spits
tombolos
deltas
mudflats
sandflats
salt marshes
mangroves

Question 8

what landforms are found at tide dominated coasts

Answer 8

mudflats
sandflats
slat marshes
mangroves
deltas
sand dunes

Question 9

what landforms are found at wind dominated coasts

Answer 9

lowest energy coastline
sand dunes

Question 11

what provides most of the systematic energy for a coastal system

Answer 11

breaking wave and resultant currents

Question 12

what influenced the coastal processes and landforms

Answer 12

original geology of the coastline
relative erodibility of regional bedrock
sea level variations

Question 13

what is the importance of coasts

Answer 13

50% of worlds population live on coastal plains and in other locations with easy access to the sea

Question 15

what is a landform

Answer 15

a natural feature of the earths surface

Question 16

what is an example of negative feedback on a coastline

Answer 16

a beach in dynamic equilibrium
sediment is eroded from the beach during a storm
sediment is deposited offshore forming an offshore bar
waves now forced to breaks before reaching the beach dissipating their energy and reducing further erosions when they reach the beach
when the storm calms normal wave conditions rework sediments from the offshore bar back to the beach
a beach in dynamic equilibrium

Question 17

what is a negative feedback loop of waves

Answer 17

constructive wave deposit material on the beach
over time the beach steepens so work against the constructive wave
waves then become more destructive
material removed from beach and deposited offshore
the beach is less steep so encouraging constructive waves