Coastal Terminology Flashcards
Abrasion
Sand grains, and rocks in the waves wearing away the coastal rock.
Anti-clockwise rotation
rotation of wind in hurricane in Northern Hemisphere
Atoll
A coral island consisting of a reef surrounding a lagoon (e.g. Maldives)
Attrition
Rocks on the ocean floor constantly collide with each other and break down in size… eventually becoming sand.
Backwash
When a wave breaks, water is washed up the beach. This is called the swash. Then the water runs back down the beach, which is called the backwash. With a constructive wave, the swash is stronger than the backwash. With a destructive wave, the backwash is stronger than the swash.
Barrier reef
A coral reef that is separated by the mainland by a deep channel or lagoon (e.g. Great Barrier Reef, Australia)
Bays and headlands
Bays are created by wave refraction (bow shape) around a headland and headlands are formed when the sea attacks a section of coast with alternating bands of hard and soft rock. This leaves a section of land sticking out into the sea called a headland.
Blow hole
Formed as sea caves grow landwards and upwards into vertical shafts and expose themselves towards the surface, which can result in blasts of water from the top of the blowhole.
Blow out
Blowouts are caused by eddy currents between sand dunes, which can then create a dune slack, typically below the water table so a pond of sorts is formed.
Bomb-fishing
Fishermen bait fish with chum above coral reefs and drop home made bombs in the water stunning and killing fish to capture but also destroying coral reefs
Boulder clay (till)
An unsorted mixture of sand, clay and boulders carried by a glacier and deposited as ground moraine over a large area. It is difficult to build on it and it erodes fast.
Broomhill Burrows
Example of a sand dune (situated in Pembrokeshire, Wales), heavily populated by rabbits who feed on plant shoots, maintaining a state of plagio-climax
Calcium carbonate
The substance most organisms in the ocean make their sheels/skeletons out of (alkaline)
Cliff-regrading
Restructuring the face of a cliff to make the gradient less steep (soft engineering). Sometimes used to decrease cliff-retreating.
Cliff-retreating
When the wave-cut notch gets deeper and deeper and finally the part of the cliff closest to the water collapses and the whole process continues, causing the cliff to retreat
Coastal bar
When a spit builds up so much that it covers the entrance to a bay creating a lagoon. An example of this is Loe beach in Cornwall.
Constructive waves
They have a powerful swash and a weak backwash, and wave length long in relation to wave height. Created in calm conditions (light wind), less powerful than destructive waves and break on the shore, depositing material, building the beach. 9 waves or less per minute
Coral bleaching
A process whereby the coral colonies lose their colour, exposing the calcium carbonate skeleton due to the expulsion of the zooxanthellae under stressful conditions (e.g. when temperature is too high)
Coral reef
Colony of coral typically found 30° N or S of equator, in warm, shallow, tidal and clear waters.
Corrosion
Certain acids in sea water can have a chemical reaction with some rocks. The rock is eaten into creating a ‘honeycombing’ effect.
Crest and trough
The crest is the highest point on the wave above the still-water line. A trough is the opposite of a crest, so the minimum or lowest point below the still-water line. To measure the wave height, you measure the vertical distance between crest and trough.
Cyanide fishing
The process of fishing aquarium fish with cyanide, a chemical poison, to stun them
Deposition
When silt or other material that has been eroded is deposited, sometimes causing a spur head to be formed
Destructive waves
Destructive waves are created in storm conditions. They are created from big, strong waves when the wind is powerful and has been blowing for a long time. They occur when wave energy is high and the wave has travelled over a long fetch. They tend to erode the coast. They have a stronger backwash than swash. Wave height big in relation to wave length. 11 or more per minute.
‘Do nothing’
The easy/cheap option, deal with the effects of flooding and erosion. Do nothing as there are no people living there or the government doesn’t have the money
Dune slack
Dune slacks are low-lying areas within dune systems that are seasonally flooded and where nutrient levels are low.
Dynamite fishing
A fishing method that involves a stick of dynamite; the dynamite stuns the fish, making them float and easy to collect
Easington Gas Works
Very valuable gas company that processes natural resources found in Norwegian seas. Protected by “hold the line” built in 2008, consisting of a rock revetment and regrading at the base of the cliff
Embryo dune
The original and first seral stage of a sand dune, sand builds up on and around obstacle
Erosion
A process that breaks things down
Fastest eroding coastline in Europe
The fastest eroding coastline in Europe is the Holderess coastline in England. Rates between 2-30m per year
Fetch
The distance of sea that the wind has to cross
Fringing reef
A type of coral reef formation, the first stage of coral reef. Situated near the shore and usually separated by a thin lagoon. An example of this is Bora Bora.
Groyne
a low wall or sturdy timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to check erosion and drifting.
Halophytic species
A halophyte is a plant that grows in waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as mangrove swamps.
Hard-engineering
The disruption of natural processes by using man-made structures.
Headland / Bay
Headland=stronger rock / Bay=softer rock , so waves will erode softer material faster and as headlands start to form, wave refraction will make bay or horse-shoe-like shape
“Hold the line”
coastal management activity by humans (ex. rock revetments, etc)
Holderness
The whole stretch of the west coast of England between Spun Head and Flanborough Head is called the Holderness coast.
Hurricanes
Hurricanes are large, swirling storms. They produce winds of 119 kilometers per hour (74 mph) or higher. Hurricanes form over warm ocean waters. Sometimes they strike land. When a hurricane reaches land, it pushes a wall of ocean water ashore. This wall of water is called a storm surge. Heavy rain and storm surge from a hurricane can cause flooding.
Hydraulic action
The force of the waves into the cracks in the rock causes an increase in air pressure, and cracks open the rock.
Loe Bar
This unique geomorthological feature is a bank of sand that separates Loe Pool, which is the largest area of fresh water in Cornwall, from the sea. It is an example of a coastal bar
Longshore drift
Waves hitting a sandy coastline from the side, causing sand grains to move in the direction the waves are hitting from.
Mangrove swamps
An area of salt water where a group of mangrove trees are situated
Mappleton
Mappleton is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the North Sea coastline in an area known as Holderness, lying approximately 3 miles south of the seaside resort of Hornsea.
Marram grass
Type of grass found on sand dunes. Halophytic (salt tolerant) and xerophytic (dry tolerant)
Natural arch
A natural rock formation formed when waves refracting around a headland crash into its sides and erode away at it until a hole is formed through the rock.
Ocean acidification
With more CO2 being released into the atmosphere than ever, increased amounts are being absorbed into the oceans by contact and other acidic oxides are increasing in the ocean because of acid rain. This poses a huge threat to many aquatic organisms because many of their skeletons are made of calcium carbonate which is alkaline.
Offshore breakwater
An offshore structure (such as a wall) protecting a harbour or beach from the force of waves.
Overfishing
Catching too much fish for the system to support leads to an overall degradation to the system.
Pilot and Coastguard station
Buildings on the Spurn Head of Easington. People are worried about them, because if it the spurn will cut-off, it will be expensive to relocate/rebuild these buildings.
Prevailing wind
A wind from the direction that is predominant or most usual at a particular place or season.
Psammoseral succession
A psammosere is a seral community, an ecological succession that began life on newly exposed coastal sand. Most common psammoseres are sand dune systems.
Rip-rap
a type of rock armour
Saffir Simpson
Hurricane wind scale
saltation
small pebbles and rocks bounce along ocean bed
sea cave
a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. The primary process involved is erosion.
Seral stage
stage of biological transformation
Slumping
common phenomenon on coasts made of till. Waves and rain weaken material, causing it to fall into the ocean and cliff to retract
Soft-engineering
Engineering that works with nature eg. Mangrove swamps for ‘hold the line’
Spit
A spit or sandspit is a deposition bar or beach landform off coasts or lake shores. It develops in places where re-entrance occurs, such as at a cove’s headlands, by the process of longshore drift by longshore currents.
Storm surge
A coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low pressure weather systems
Stump
An old stack that has been shortened over time by erosion.
Tombolo
A deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar
Transportation
The way sand or other materials can be moved from one place to another. An example is long shore drift
Tropical storms
A tropical storm is a hazard that brings heavy rainfall, strong winds and other related hazards such as mudslides and floods. The strongest tropical storms are called hurricanes, typhoons or tropical cyclones. The different names all mean the same thing, but are used in different parts of the world.
Typhoon/Cyclone/Willy-Willies
Different names for ‘hurricane’.
wave-cut notch
Formed when sea waves undercut the base of a cliff. As the force of the waves continually weaken the base, the overhanging rock or the area above the notch eventually caves in.
wave-cut platform
The narrow flat area often found at the base of a sea cliff or along the shoreline of a lake, bay, or sea that was created by the erosion of waves.
wave length and height
wave length=distance between crests of consecutive waves / wave height=shortest length between trough and line from crest to crest of consecutive waves
Wave refraction
As a wave comes into contact with the coastline it slows due to friction. This results in the wave bending (refracting).
Xerophytic
A type of plant that can survive in very dry conditions
zooxanthellae
Any of various yellow-brown photosynthetic dinoflagellates that live symbiotically within the cells of other organisms, especially certain corals and other marine invertebrates.
