Distictive Coastal Landscapes

Question 1

A Concordant coastline
What is the rock type (geology) like on a concordant coastline?
What features are found on a concordant coastline?

Answer 1

A concordant coastline has the same type of rock along its length. Concordant coastlines tend to have fewer bays and headlands.

Question 2

A discordant coastline
What is the rock type like on a discordant coast?
What features are found on a discordant coast?

Answer 2

Coastlines where the geology alternates between strata of hard rock and soft rock are called discordant coastlines.

Question 3

Headlands

Explain how headlands are formed

Answer 3

Headlands are formed when the sea attacks a section of coast with alternating bands of hard and soft rock.

Question 4

Bays

Explain how bays formed

Answer 4

Areas where the soft rock has eroded away, next to the headland, are called bays.

Question 5

Hard rock and soft rock

What is the difference between hard/soft rock

Answer 5

Headlands are formed when the sea attacks a section of coast with alternating bands of hard and soft rock. The bands of soft rock, such as sand and clay, erode more quickly than those of more resistant rock, such as chalk. This leaves a section of land jutting out into the sea called a headland.

Question 6

Caves

Answer 6

Caves occur when waves force their way into cracks in the cliff face. The water contains sand and other materials that grind away at the rock until the cracks become a cave.

Question 7

Arches

What are the characteristics of an arch

Answer 7

If the cave is formed in a headland, it may eventually break through to the other side forming an arch.

Question 8

Cliffs

Answer 8

Cliffs are shaped through a combination of erosion and weathering the breakdown of rocks caused by weather conditions.

Question 9

Stacks

Answer 9

Further erosion causes the arch to collapse, leaving the pillar of hard rock standing away from the coast called the stack.

Question 10

Wave cut platform

what are the characteristics of wave cut platforms

Answer 10

A wave-cut platform is the narrow flat area often found at the base of a sea cliff or along the shoreline of a lake, bay, or sea that was created by the erosion of waves.

Question 11

Prevailing winds

Answer 11

Waves can approach the coast at an angle because of the direction of the prevailing wind.

Question 12

Swash

Answer 12

When a wave breaks, water is washed up the beach this is called the swash

Question 13

Backwash

Answer 13

The flow back to the sea after the wave have broken is called BACKWASH. The backwash will carry some material back to the sea.

Question 14

Destructive waves

characteristics of a destructive wave

Answer 14

Destructive waves have much more energy and are higher. The backwash is very strong and removes material from the shore to create a steep beach.

Question 15

Constructive waves

Answer 15

Constructive waves are flat and low with limited energy. This energy washes material up the beach to create a gentle beach.

Question 16

Longshore drift

how Long Shore Drift works

Answer 16

Continual swash and backwash transports material sideways along the coast. This movement of material is called longshore drift and occurs in a zigzag.

Question 17

Spits

the formation of a spit.

Answer 17

A spit is an extended stretch of beach material that projects out to sea and is joined to the mainland at one end. Spits are formed where the prevailing wind blows at an angle to the coastline, resulting in longshore drift.

Question 18

Bars

Answer 18

A submerged shore parallel embankment of sand or gravel built in the breaker zone due to the action of breaking waves.

Question 19

Erosion

Answer 19

the process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents.