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Georgraphy > Coasts > Flashcards

Coasts Flashcards

1
Q

What is swash?

A

A wave that travels towards the beach.

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2
Q

What is backwash?

A

A wave going back out to sea.

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3
Q

What is the fetch?

A

The distance a wave travels.

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4
Q

What is the prevailing wind?

A

Strongest, dominant wind direction.

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5
Q

How is a wave created?

A
  1. The wind blows over the sea.
  2. This creates ripples.
  3. These ripples become bigger swells.
  4. The swells eventually approach the land.
  5. The sea becomes shallower as the land gets nearer.
  6. The bottom of the wave slows due to friction.
  7. The top keeps going and forms a crest.
  8. The crest topples over forming a breaking wave.
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6
Q

What is a destructive wave?

A 
Created by a large fetch.
They are big, strong waves with high energy.
Erode the coastline.
Backwash is stronger than swash.
14 waves per minute.
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7
Q

What is a constructive wave?

A 
Created by a short fetch.
Small, gentle waves with low energy.
Deposit sediment.
Swash is stronger than the backwash.
7 waves per minute.
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8
Q

What is biological weathering?

A

Weakening and disintegration of rocks by plants, animals and microbes. For example, growing plant roots can exert pressure on the rock.

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9
Q

What is chemical weathering?

A

Erosion or disintegration of rocks caused by chemical reactions. For example, solubles such as acid rain dissolve and break down the cliff faces.

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10
Q

What is mechanical weathering?

A

The process of breaking big rocks into little ones. Freeze-thaw action is when water enters cracks and expands overnight, separating the rock.

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11
Q

What is hydraulic action?

A

Erosion of the cliffs caused by the force of water and air in the waves colliding against them.

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12
Q

What is abrasion?

A

Erosion pf the cliffs as waves throw particles and rocks against them.

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13
Q

What is attrition?

A

Erosion of the material carried by waves. The material in the waves is smoothed as it bumps into each other.

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14
Q

What is solution/corrosion?

A

Minerals are dissolved in the water and carried along in solution.

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15
Q

What is a headland?

A

An area of hard rock protruding out into the sea.

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16
Q

What is a bay?

A

An area of soft rock creating an inlet or embayment.

17
Q

How are headlands and bays formed?

A

The soft rock, such as sand and clay, erode quicker than hard rock (chalk). This means that they form bay as the hard rock doesn’t erode at the same pace.

18
Q

What is a wave cut notch?

A

When the sea attacks the base of the cliff and creates an indent.

19
Q

What is a wave-cut platform?

A

When weathering attacks the top of the cliff and eventually falls because of the wave-cut notch. The sediment gets carried towards the sea by the backwash, creating a wave cut platform.

20
Q

How do stumps form?

A

Waves erode weaknesses in the rock, called faults. Over time a cave will form along the greatest line of weakness.
The size of the cave is increased by further erosion until the headland is opened at both sides.
Wave erosion at the base of the arch led to the collapse of the roof, forming a stack.
The stack is separated from the rest of the land and is eventually eroded down into a stump.

21
Q

What’s an example of these erosional landforms?

A

Swanage bay.

22
Q

How is a spit formed?

A
  1. Longshore drift transports sediment down the coast in the direction of the prevailing wind.
  2. A change in the shape of the land (caused by the estuary) means longshore drift begins to deposit sediment out away from the coast.
  3. A long tongue of sediment builds up known as a spit. The end is curved by a prevailing wind.
23
Q

How are salt marshes formed?

A

They develop in the sheltered area behind the spit (eg. Keyhaven Marshes behind Hurst Castle spit.)

24
Q

What is a bar?

A

A bar of sediment in front of a bay, joining two headlands.

25
Q

How is a tombolo formed?

A

Through a spit that has carried on and joined onto an offshore island.

26
Q

How will thermal expansion affect the coastline?

A

Change the amount of water in the ocean.

27
Q

How will ice melt and glacier melt affect the coastline?

A 
Recent studies show that the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than the snow is replacing them.
Land glaciers (like the ones in the Alps, Europe) are continuing to melt which increases the seal level.
28
Q

What is post glacier rebound?

A

When there is no ice on one end of an island but lots on the other, causing a seesaw motion.

29
Q

Where is Tuvalu?

A

Midway between Hawaii and Australia. It’s nearer neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji.

30
Q

What are the environmental effects of sea level rise on Tuvalu?

A

When land is flooded by the sea, salt is left behind. This is known as salt water intrusion. It has huge effects on ecosystems and habitats.
Salt water intrusion destroys the crop of paluku which is an important source of carbohydrate in Polynesia.
Coral reefs are also being damaged. It provides and important marine habitat.
Flooding and storm surges erode erode soils. Thin soils support less plants and animals.

31
Q

What are the political effects of sea level rise on Tuvalu?

A

The government has to plan the evacuation and migration of the remaining 10,000 habitants.
The government is campaigning and trying to get its voice heard (Tuvalu Protocol, Copenhagen 2009).
Tuvalu now relies on aid from New Zealand.

32
Q

What are the social effects of sea level rise on Tuvalu?

A

Many Tuvaluans are being forced from their homeland (4,000 now live in New Zealand).
Families are being ripped apart.
Cultures and traditions are dying out as Tuvaluans are forced to emigrate to New Zealand.
Health problems (stress, water bourne diseases like typhoid and diarrhoea) are more common as flooding damages infrastructure and contaminates water supplies.

33
Q

What are the economic effects of sea level rise on Tuvalu?

A

Island’s two industries are being hit.
Cash crops like pulaka are killed by contaminated groundwater supplies. Downturn in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) since 2002.
Salt water intrusion is hitting farmers and agriculture.
Bleaching of coral reef ecosystems reduces fish stocks, hitting the fish industry.

Georgraphy (8 decks)

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