COASTS

Question 1

What is the wave crest

Answer 1

The highest point of the wave

Question 2

What is the wave trough

Answer 2

The lowest point of the wave

Question 3

Features of a constructive wave?

Answer 3

Low frequency
Long wavelength
Strong swash
Weak backwash
Created in calm weather

Question 4

Features of a destructive wave

Answer 4

Created from storms
Powerful
Strong backwash, weak swash
Created steeper beaches
Shingle beaches
High frequency

Question 5

What 3 factors affect wave energy

Answer 5

Strength of the wind
Duration of the wind
Size of the fetch

Question 6

What factors affect the rate of erosion

Answer 6

Waves
Beach size
Rock faults
Rock lithology

Question 7

What are the processes of transportation

Answer 7

Traction
Saltation
Suspension
Solution

Question 8

Examples of mechanical (physical) weathering

Answer 8

Freeze thaw
Salt crystallisation
Wetting and drying

Question 9

Examples of chemical weathering

Answer 9

Carbonation
Oxidation
Solution

Question 10

Biological weathering

Answer 10

Plant roots
Birds
Rock boring
Seaweed acids
Decaying vegetation

Question 11

Examples of mass movement

Answer 11

Soil creep
Mudflows
Rockfall
Landslides
Runoff

Question 12

How do spits occur

Answer 12

When the coast changes direction.
Longshore drift deposits the material
Sea changes in wind direction. Leads to a curved end of the spit.

Question 13

How are barrier beaches created

Answer 13

When a beach or spit is extended across to a bay
Traps water from the lagoon
Separated from the mainland
Common in areas of low tidal range

Question 14

How are tombolos created

Answer 14

Bar or beach that connects the mainland to an offshore island
Due too wave refraction

Question 15

What is isostatic change

Answer 15

Occurs when land rises or falls close to the sea.
Localised change.

Question 16

What is ecstatic change

Answer 16

Affects sea level across the whole planet.
Due to thermal expansion or changes in glacial processes.

Question 17

What are groynes

Answer 17

Timber or rock that trap sediment from LSD
Help to build up the beach
Increase tourist potential

Visually unappealing
Increases erosion elsewhere

Question 18

Sea walls

Answer 18

Concrete structures
Absorb and reflect wave energy

Question 19

What is abrasion

Answer 19

A form of erosion
Where loose material ‘sandpapers’ the walls and floors of the river, cliff or glacier

Question 20

What is coastal recession

Answer 20

The retreat of a coastline due to erosion, sea-level rise or submergence

Question 21

What us eustatic

Answer 21

Global changes to sea level

Question 22

What is freeze thaw

Answer 22

Water freezes in the cracks of a rock, expands and enlarges the crack, this weakens the rock.
Type of physical sub-aerial weathering

Question 23

What is geology

Answer 23

The structure and arrangement of a rock

Question 24

What does impermeable mean

Answer 24

Rock that does not allow rainwater to pass through

Question 25

Isostatic

Answer 25

Change in local coastline or land height relative to the sea level

Question 26

Permeable

Answer 26

Rock that allows rainwater to pass through it

Question 27

Submergent coast

Answer 27

Coast that is sinking relative to the sea level of the time

Question 28

What is a sediment cell

Answer 28

Areas along the coastline where the movement of material is largely self-contained.
Closed coastal sub-system.