Costal Landforms / Erosion Flashcards
What is a concordant coastline?
Concordant coasts are made up of the same rock type, parallel to the sea
What is a discordant coastline?
Discordant coasts have rocks that alternate in layers perpendicular to the sea, forming headlands and bays
What is erosion?
Wearing away of material
What is transportation?
Movement of material
What is weathering?
Breaking down rocks through natural means
What is deposition?
Dropping of material when waves lose energy
What are the 3 types of weathering (sub-aerial processes)
Mechanical, Chemical, Biological
What are the 4 types of transportation?
Traction, saltation, suspension, solution
What are the human impacts on coasts?
Tourism, Industry, Agriculture, Coastal Management, Development
What is traction?
Large boulders rolling along the seabed
What is saltation?
Small stones bouncing along the seabed
What is suspension?
Sand and small particles carried along in the flow
What is solution?
Minerals dissolve in seawater and carried along in the flow
What is hydraulic action?
Waves forcing air and water into cracks in rocks
What is abrasion?
Rocks scraping along the seabed in a sandpaper effect
What is attrition?
Rocks crashing against eachother
What are the features of destructive waves?
Small wave height, weak swash, strong backwash, high frequency
What are the features of constructive waves?
Tall wave height, strong swash, weak backwash, low frequency
What is the swash?
Pushing materials along the beach
What is the backwash?
Carrying materials from the beach and into the sea
What is longshore drift?
Movement of sediment along the beach
How are stacks and stumps formed?
Hydraulic action forces open a crack in a cliff to form a cave, which eventually the backwall will collapse into an arch. Overtime, the arch will be eroded and the top will collapse to become a stack and then into a stump
How are headland and bays formed?
Waves eroding the soft rock in cliffs to form bays. Hard rock resists erosion to form headlands.
