Distinctive features of the coastal zone

Question 1

What is the littoral zone?

Answer 1

The coastal zone in which sediments are moved around between the land, beach and sea

Question 2

Why is the littoral zone dynamic (always changing)?

Answer 2

These changes are due to the interactions between the processed happening on land, in the seas and in the oceans. It varies because of
- short term factors (individual waves, daily tides, seasonal storms)
- long term factors (sea level changes and climate change)

Question 3

What are the 4 divisions of the littoral zone?

Answer 3

Backshore
Foreshore
Nearshore
Offshore

Question 4

What is the coastal system?

Answer 4

The coastal system helps us to understand the processes and interactions involved - the inputs, processes and outputs. In theory these work together to create coastal equilibrium

Question 5

What are the 4 types of inputs?

Answer 5

Marine (tsunamis, waves, tides)
Atmosphere (precipitation, solar energy, wind)
Terrestrial (tectonics, geology)
Human (buildings, pollution, tourism, sea defences)

Question 6

What are the 3 types of processes?

Answer 6

Deposition
Transportation
Erosion

Question 7

What are some examples of outputs?

Answer 7

Spits
Beaches
Caves
Stacks
Arches
Headlands and bays
Cliffs
Sand dunes
Wave cut platforms

Question 8

Define Store/component

Answer 8

A part of the system where energy is stored/transferred

Question 9

Define system

Answer 9

A set of components working together

Question 10

Define flow/transfer/flux

Answer 10

A form of transfer between one store and another

Question 11

Define input

Answer 11

The addition of matter or energy into a system

Question 12

Define a closed system

Answer 12

Does not interact with its surroundings

Question 13

Define an open system

Answer 13

Interacts with its surroundings

Question 14

Define the coastline

Answer 14

Part of the land near the sea; the edge of the land

Question 15

Define the coast

Answer 15

Regarded as an open system with inputs, processes and outputs; interacts with its surroundings

Question 16

What is the sediment budget?

Answer 16

The sediment budget is knowing exactly how much sediment is coming in along the coastline (input) and how much sediment is going out (output)

Question 17

What are the 3 principal sources of beach sediment?

Answer 17

Rivers
Cliffs
Sand dunes

Question 18

What are examples of outputs to the sediment budget?

Answer 18

Outputs to the sediment budget could include longshore drift, natural loss, aeolian (natural wind) loss and anthropogenic (human induced) losses

Question 19

Features of a high energy (rocky) coastline

Answer 19

• The rate of erosion exceeds the rate of deposition
• Landforms include headlands, cliffs and wave cut platforms
• High levels of erosion, high wave activity, exposure to prevailing winds, a long fetch
• Example: Conachair in the outer Hebrides is a 426m granite coast

Question 20

Features of a low energy (sandy/estuarine) coastline

Answer 20

• High levels of deposition, they are sheltered, and characterised by low wave activity
• The rate of deposition exceeds the rate of erosion
• Landforms here include beaches and spits
• Low-lying, low relief, contains wetlands and marshes, poor drainage, flat landscapes, just above sea level
• Coastal accretion can occur (where the coastline gradually moves seaward)