Costal KO Flashcards
Fetch
The length of water the wind blows over.
Swash
The water that rushes up the sand.
Backwash
The water rolling back into the sea.
Tides
These are the rise and fall of the sea, controlled by the sun and moon.
Erosion
Wearing away of the rocks and soil by rivers, waves the wind or glaciers.
Hydraulic action
Sea water is forced into cracks and helps to break it up.
Solution
Chemicals in the sea water dissolve soluble material from the rock.
Abrasion
The sandpapering action of sand and pebbles in the water hitting the rock.
Attrition
Rocks being banged against each other in the sea, wearing themselves down into smaller more rounded stones and pebbles.
Transport
The carrying away of materials by rivers, waves the wind or glaciers.
Deposit
To drop material; waves deposit sand and small stones in sheltered parts of the coast forming beaches.
Headland
Area of softer more easily eroded very slowly and sticks out into the sea.
Bay
Area of softer more easily eroded rock where the coastline curves inwards between two headlands.
Longshore drift
How sand and other material is carried parallel to the shore, by the waves.
Prevailing wind
The wind that blows most often; in the UK it is South West wind.
Cave
A large hole in the side of a cliff caused by the sea eroding a crack.
Arch
The curved outline left when the sea erodes the inside of a cave away.
Stack
A pillar of rock left standing in the sea when the top of the arch collapses.
Stump
The remains of a stack which the sea has eroded away.
Wave-cut platform
The flat rocky area left behind when waves erode a cliff away.
Beach
A deposit of land, shingle or pebbles in a sheltered area.
Spit
A deposit of beach material that extends out to the sea and is joined to the mainland at one end.
Salt marsh
A low-lying marshy area by the sea, with salty water from the tides.
River estuary
Where a river meets the sea.
Hard engineering
The use of concrete and large artificial structures by civil engineers to defend land against natural erosion processes.
Soft engineering
Managing erosion by working with natural processes to help restore beaches and costal ecosystems.
Groyne
A wooden barrier built out into the sea to stop the longshore drift of sand and shingle, and can cause the beach to grow.
Sea wall
A concrete wall which aims to prevent erosion of the coast by providing a barrier which reflects wave energy.
Gabion
Steel wire mesh filled with boulders in coast defence.
