Coasts as natural systems Flashcards
What is the backshore ?
Area between the high water mark and landward limit of marine activity. Changes normall only take place here durng storm activity.
What is the foreshore ?
Area between the high water mark and the low water mark. Most important for marine processes that are not influenced by storm activity .
What is the swash zone ?
Area where water washes up the beach following the breaking of a wave.
What is the surf zone ?
Area between where the waves break and where the waves move up the beach in the swash zone.
What is the breaker zone ?
The area where waves approaching begin to break.
Give an example of a negative feedback in a coastal environment ?
Sediment is eroded from the beach during a storm, sediment is deposited offshore forming an offshore bar, waves now forced to break before dissipating their energy reducing erosion, when the storm calms normal wave conditions rework the sediments from the offshore bar back to the beach, A beach in dynamic equilibrium.
