Coastal Topic Flashcards

Question

What Are High Energy Coasts

Answer 1

High energy coasts are area with high energy waves caused by the CTWMC

Answer 2

Between 45-65 degrees because of CTWMC

Answer 3

The east coast swells are found on the east coast of each continent bellow the tropic of Cancer caused by NE and SE trade winds

Answer 4

Tropical cyclone coasts are found in the high pressure areas either side of the equator

Answer 5

The trade winds are winds that reliably blow east to west just north and south of the equator.

Answer 6

Prevailing winds are winds that blow from a single direction over a specific area of the Earth.

Answer 7

An abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides

Answer 8

The whole of the UK has big waves because there are wind blowing in from the North-East and the South-West

Answer 9

Spring tide + low pressure storm + bulge in the sea = storm surge

Answer 10

High pressure pushes the ocean to create a concave surface. Low pressure draws air up and in doing so the air pulls the water into a bulge as it moves across the ocean and rises

Answer 11

When all the water is diverted to the right because of the spin of the earth

Answer 12

*Damming the rivers (flood defences) - decreases deposition in the estuary e.g. less salt marshes. This eliminates a natural defence *Management of coasts - alter the amount of protective beach material that would be deposited acting as a barrier to rising sea levels. (sea walls) *Building on coastal low lands makes people vulnerable to area that would flood naturally *Global warming causes warmer weather which causes the sea to expand and sea levels to rise. Length of rainfall has been the most exceptional for 248 years

Answer 13

A sediment cell is a stretch of coastline usually bordered by two prominent headlands or anything that stops sediment movement. Where the movement of sediment tends to be contained.

Answer 14

These are primarily derived from the river, coastal erosion and off shore sources, such as bars and banks

Answer 15

The involve longshore drift together with onshore or offshore processes such as rip currents

Answer 16

These include the beach, sand dunes, and offshore deposits (bars and bands)

Answer 17

The permanent or seasonal movement of surface water in the sea and oceans

Answer 18

The movement of cold water from deep in the ocean towards the surface. The more dense cold water replaces the warmer surface water and creates a nutrient rich cold ocean current. These form part of the global ocean circulation currents.

Answer 19

Also known as littoral drift, occur as most waves do not hit the coastline head on but approach at an angle to the shoreline. This generates a flow of water (current) running parallel to the shoreline. This not only moves water along the surf zone but also moves sediment parallel to the shoreline.

Answer 20

Rip currents occur when the receding flow becomes concentrated in one particular area at one particular time. There are a number of things that can cause this but the most common is a break in a sand bar.

Answer 21

The movement of consolidated and unconsolidated material due to gravity

Answer 22

Solid rock

Answer 23

Soft rock (clay and soil)

Answer 24

The boulder clay that we build on is so compact because as glaciers moved towards our coast, it pushes the mud and material from the sea bed against the coast

Answer 25

- Rotational slump - Soil creep - Land slide - Rock fall - Mud flow

Answer 26

Occurs where there is a very slow but continuous movement of individual particles down slope. There is an uncertainty about the exact cause of soil creep but it is agreed that the presence of soil moisture together with a range of weathering and other processes is significant.

Answer 27

Where softer material overlies resistant materials, cliffs subject to slumping. With excessive lubrication whole sections of cliff face may move downwards with a slide plane that is concave producing rotational movement. Slumps are common features of the British coast, particularly where glacial deposits form part coastal areas

Answer 28

Occur on cliffs made from softer rock or deposited material, which slips as a result of failure within it when lubricated, usually following heavy rainfall

Answer 29

These occur from cliff undercuts from the sea, or on the slopes affected by mechanical weathering action

Answer 30

Heavy rain can cause large quantities of fine material to flow downhill. Here the soil becomes saturated and if excess water can not perculate deeper into the ground, surface layers become very fluent and flow downhill. The nature of the flow is dependent on the level of saturation, sediment type and angle of the slope

Answer 31

- Hydraulic action - Wave quarrying - Abrasion / corrosion - Attrition

Answer 32

Air trapped in cracks in the cliff due to force of water. This exerts enormous pressure on the rock surface

Answer 33

Breaking waves trap air as it hits the cliffs, as the water pulls back, there is an explosive effects of air under pressure being released

Answer 34

Material in the sea wears away the rock face. Sand, shingles and boulders hurled against the cliff do enormous damage. This is apparent in inter-tidal rock platforms where sediment is drawn back and forth, grinding away at the platform

Answer 35

Rocks in the sea slowly worn down into smaller and rounder pieces

Answer 36

- Wave steepness and breaking point - Position of coast - Fetch - Human activity - Sea depth - Beach pressure - Coastal Configuration

Answer 37

Steeper waves have more power than low waves. Waves breaking at cliff foot release more energy than those near shore

Answer 38

Coasts not protected from prevailing winds are more exposed to wave action than sheltered coast areas

Answer 39

People may move protective materials from the beach, e.g. sand and shingles, leading to more erosion. Sea defenses increase erosion rates else where on the coast

Answer 40

A steady shelving sea bed at coast will create higher / steeper waves

Answer 41

Beaches absorb wave energy which provides protection against erosion. Steep and narrow beaches quickly dissipates energy from flat waves. Flat beaches dissipates steep waves

Answer 42

Headlands attract wave energy though refraction

Answer 43

How far waves travel determines energy level

Answer 44

- Mechanical - Biological - Chemical

Answer 45

Dependent on the nature of the climate. Freeze thaw action is common in latitudes where temperature fluctuate between above and below freezing, especially as there is a ready water supply. Water that enters the cracks in the rocks freezes as temperatures remain below 0 degrees. As it freezes water expands almost 10% meaning more space is occupied thus more pressure is exerted on the surrounding rock. As the process repeats and continues, cracks widen and eventually pieces of rock break of. Weathering and mass movement remove any overlaying material and the rock beneath experiences pressure release. This can cause weaknesses and more cracks as it is allowed to expand.

Answer 46

Includes processes leading to the breakdown of rock by action of vegetation and coastal organisms. Quite active on coastlines, some marine organisms e.g. piddock (shellfish) have specially adapted shells that enable them to drill into rock. Particularly active in areas with chalk geology, seaweed attaches itself to rocks and the action of the sea can be enough to cause swaying seaweed to pry away loose rock from the sea floor. Algae secretase chemicals capable of promoting solution. Some animals can weaken cliffs as they burrow/dig into them e.g. rabbits

Answer 47

- Oxidation - Hydration - Hydrolysis - Carbonation

Answer 48

Causes rock to disintegrate when oxygen dissolved in the water reacts with some rock minerals, forming oxides / hydroxides. Evidence is a brownish/yellowish staining on the rock surface

Answer 49

Makes rocks more susceptible to further chemical weathering, involved physical addition of water to rock minerals. causes rock to expand, creating stress which causes rock to disintegrate. This process weakens the rock and creates cracks which allows the rock to be further weathered

Answer 50

Mildly acidic water reacts / combines with minerals in rock to create clay and dissolvable salts which degrades rock beds, both weather than parent rock thus more susceptible to weathering

Answer 51

Occurs when CO2 dissolved in rainwater makes carbon acidic water react with calcium carbonate in limestone to create a calcium bicarbonate which then dissolves in water. More effective in locations with cooler temperatures as more carbon

Answer 52

It may take the form of a stream emerging in a bay, taking with it large quantities of of load during times of flood, or maybe a stream cascading over a cliff excavating a V-shaped groove as it does so. It can also be water that flows over the surface to reach the coastline, the presents of which will assist many of the mass movement process

Answer 53

- Traction - Saltation - Suspension - Solution

Answer 54

- Traction - Saltation - Suspension - Solution

Answer 55

Large stones and boulders are rolled along the sea bed and beach by moving sea water which happens in high energy environments

Answer 56

Small stones bounce along the sea bed and beach. It is associated with relatively high energy conditions. Small particles may be thrust up only to fall back down to the sea bed. As they land they dislodge other particles upwards causing bouncing movements

Answer 57

Very small particles of sand and slit are carried and picked up via turbulence in the water

Answer 58

Dissolved materials are transported within the mass of moving water

Answer 59

The friction from the shallow wave cut platform slows the waves on top of it, creating closer together waves, increasing the wave height. These destructive waves turn inwards towards the headland because of refraction (when part of something slows and the part remaining at the original speed is forced to spin). Because of the frequency and strength of the waves, the headland becomes a high energy area. The waves in the bay are low energy waves and are constructive.

Answer 60

Headlands are formed when a section of consolidated rock is surrounded by unconsolidated rock. The unconsolidated rock is eroded leaving the consolidated rock "sticking out" and forming a headland. The area between two headlands that is eroded away is called a bay

Answer 61

- Sand beaches - Shingle beaches - Storm beaches

Answer 62

- Built up by a strong swash during spring high tides - Consists of large caliber material thrown up by the largest waves - Remains unmoved because subsequent tides cannot reach them - At the back of the beach

Answer 63

- When the swash moves in the water moves between the pebbles and loses energy so the backwash is less strong - Shingle beaches may make up the whole beach or just the upper part due to high spring tides where the waves have more energy and are higher steeper gradient (10-20 degrees)

Answer 64

- Gentle gradient (5 degrees) - Sand particles are small - they fit together and squish very well - Unlike the shingle beaches, the waves don't lose much energy and so have a stronger backwash

Answer 65

In winter it is windier and so destructive waves are more common and the beach is washed away. In summer it is less windy and so constructive waves are more common and the beach is built back up

Answer 66

It occurs when accumulation of sand and shingles is faster then the removal. occurs when there is low energy and a large supply of materials

Answer 67

- Occurs at specific points for wave activity such as the mean turning points for low and high tides where the cycle goes from neap to spring - Run parallel to the shoreline - Broken by channels that drain water off the beach - Caused by strong backwash on sandy beaches

Answer 68

Ripples are little ripples in the sand caused by small currents cusps are semi circular depressions when waves break on the beach and the swash and back wash are strong. It happens at the junction between the sand and shingle. Sides of the cusp channel the swash into the middles deepening it.

Answer 69

- Where a beach extends out to join an off shore island through longshore drift

Answer 70

- When longshore drift connects two headlands - Joins one end of the Bay to the end - A lagoon is the still salt water behind the bar

Answer 71

- Coastlines paralleled by off shore narrow strips of sand dunes, salt marshes and beaches are known as barrier Islands - Barrier islands complexes stretches along the south east coast of North America from Long Island. New York to the gulf coast of Texas - Many believe barrier islands originated as off shore bars built by waves breaking on a shallow shore - The return backwash sweeps sand back to settle on the developing bar

Answer 72

Long narrow accumulations of sand and / or shingles with one end joining the mainland and the other projecting outwards to the sea or extending partway across an estuary. They often have a hooked end due to the second prevailing wind, fetch or wave refraction carrying some material into more sheltered water

Answer 73

- Longshore drift - Shallow and sheltered water - Change in shape of coastline

Answer 74

When ocean and river water meet and electrically charge the clay starts to stick together and form mud

Answer 75

Coastal sand dunes are accumulation of sand shaped into mounds by the wind

Answer 76

- Embryo dunes are very small dunes created by sand being blocked by small plants (pioneer plants) that are often submerged at high tide. Plants like sea rocket, sea couch and saltwort - These plants have a high salt tolerance to survive in the sea environment - When these embryo dunes grow a bit bigger, sea grass grows on top of them, making then now Foredunes

Answer 77

- Seral stage 2 has yellow dunes - There is now no salt water reaching the dune - There is also nutrient in the dune that can sustain plants - It is covered in Marram grass - All the pioneer species have died out

Answer 78

- Grey dunes have now formed - It is completely protected from salt water due to yellow dunes in front of it - The moss growing on it makes it grey - It is no longer mobile and cannot be moved because of the plants and root

Answer 79

The dune flattens out and is now just part of the ground. plants like heather and sedge grown over it and eventually pine trees until it becomes a forest

Answer 80

- Located inland side of spit - Low lying areas of the shore that are submerged at high tide and are composed of slit and clay - Develop in estuaries where the flow of fresh water out the river is slow and the sea water flow into the river mouth with each high tide and out with each low tide - At low tide the intertidal area of mud is left exposed. water is only left in permanent channels and the generally smooth surface shows evidence of tidal action where the flowing water has carved into, or shaped the surface - Mud flats can be very extensive covering many tens of square kilometers

Answer 81

Building or creating something which will interfere with costal processes

Answer 82

Working with the natural processes of sea and sand in a more environmentally sustainably way

Answer 83

In which businesses or dwellings physically move further inland away from the treat of coastal erosion has been identified as a way to furthering sustainable coastal economic, environmental and social infrastructure development.

Answer 84

-Concrete sea wall -Revetment -Gabions -Rock armor / rip-rap -Tetrapod's -Groynes -Cliff drainage -Barrages -Offshore breakwater

Answer 85

A concrete wall against the cliff face/ shoreline that deflects waves back into the sea. Advantages: deflects waves, strong, effective, long lasting, often a promenade to walk along Disadvantages: expensive, regular repairs, can undermine foundations, unnatural to look at

Answer 86

Interlocking concrete slabs or wooden boards to deflect the waves. Placed at the foot of the cliff or the top of a beach to break up the energy or the waves Advantages: provides hard face to cliff, easily installed, cheaper than sea wall, deflects wave power Disadvantages: can be eroded from below easily, needs frequent repair, not very attractive

Answer 87

Granite boulders placed at the base of the cliff / top of the beach to break waves and absorb the energy. Advantages: popular in resent years, cheaper than sea wall Disadvantages: not very attractive, not easy for people to get to beach, rats may live in the spaces

Answer 88

Wooden or boulder 'fences' designed to trap and accumulate sand Advantages: builds up the beach, makes the beach wider, provides calmer waters, encourages tourism Disadvantages: needs repairs, strong waves can still reach cliffs, leads to faster erosion down the coast

Answer 89

-Beach nourishment -Dune regeneration -Marsh creation -Landuse management

Answer 90

Moving sand from areas it has accumulated to areas it has been eroded from, making the beach higher and wider Advantages: adds to tourist amenity by making the beach bigger, attractive, works with natural processes, relatively cheap to maintain Disadvantages: needs frequent renewal of more sand, doesn't protect cliff from winter storm waves

Answer 91

Marram grass can be planted to stabilize sand dunes and help them to become re-established. Areas can be fenced off to keep people off newly planted dunes Advantages: maintains a natural coastal environment, provides important wildlife habitats, relatively cheap and sustainable Disadvantages: time consuming, people do not always like being banned from certain areas

Answer 92

This is a form of managed retreat, by allowing low lying areas to become flooded by the sea, the land becomes a saltmarsh Advantages: relatively cheap, provides a buffer to powerful waves, creates an important wildlife habitat Disadvantages: agricultural land is lost, farmers/ landowners need to be compensated

Answer 93

Even if some areas of the coast will eventually be flooded landuse management can minimize the impact. eg: caravan parks on cliff tops are appropriate because they can easily be moved and re-sited Advantages: an appropriate behavioral approach to coastal management that is sustainable Disadvantages: some people may not want to have land use restricted at the coast, difficult to implement retrospectively

Answer 94

Pevensey Bay

Answer 95

It is located on the South coast of England in the between Eastborn and Hastings

Answer 96

The initial budget for the 25 year contract awarded by the government was £30 million

Answer 97

Shingle ridges, they are mounds made of shingles shaped in a stair. And groynes as well

Answer 98

They are Holding the line by methods like beach nourishment, beach recycling and the recycling of old tires to raise the beach height

Answer 99

No, because once the money and contract run out they won't be able to run the ship and machines used to re-nourish the beach