Deck 15- The Coastal system

Question 1

What is a coastline?

Answer 1

The interface between land and sea.

Question 2

State 4 examples of inputs into the coastal system.

Answer 2

Land (rock type/structure and tectonic activity), atmospheric (weather/climate, climate change, solar energy), marine (waves, tides, storm surges) and people (human activity and coastal management)

Question 3

What are the 5 main processes involved in the coastal system?

Answer 3

Erosion (wearing away and removal of material), transportation (movement of sediment through longshore and transportation processes), deposition (dropping of sediment), mass movement (movement of surface material) and weathering /wearing away of material in situ)

Question 4

What are the 3 different outputs in the coastal system?

Answer 4

Different types of coasts (e.g. sandy, rocky, wetlands), erosional landforms (arch, stack, stump, headland, bay) and depositional landforms (spits, tombolos, beaches)

Question 5

What is a sediment (littoral) cell?

Answer 5

Units of coastlines where the dominant processes that influence the sediment budget are generally uniform within a particular coastal stretch.

Question 6

How many major sediment cells are there in England and Wales?

Answer 6

11

Question 7

Why is the coastal system considered an open system?

Answer 7

There is some movement across longshore drift divides between sediment cells.

Question 8

What is the littoral zone?

Answer 8

The wider coastal zone including adjacent land areas and shallow parts of the sea just offshore.

Question 9

Where is the backshore found and what are its key features?

Answer 9

Found at the top of the beach next to the cliffs or sand dunes and is usually above the influence of waves. At the top is a storm beach which is made of large material deposited in storm conditions.

Question 10

Where is the foreshore found and what are its key features?

Answer 10

The area between high and low
tides. Sediment is constantly reworked by the moving tides forming ripples.

Question 11

Where is the nearshore found and what are its key features?

Answer 11

The nearshore zone is where waves steepen and break then surge up the beach. Waves first break at the breakpoint bar and move sediment up the beach. Longshore bars form as ridges made of sand parallel to the beach.

Question 12

Where is the offshore found and what are its key features?

Answer 12

The offshore zone is beyond the influence of the waves and usually remains below the sea.
In this zone waves begin to be impacted by friction from the sea floor causes the waves to become distorted and steepen.