Enquiry Question 1 Flashcards
What makes up the littoral zone?
Backshore - usually above the influence of the waves. Foreshore - inter-tidal or surf zone. Nearshore - breaker zone. Offshore - beyond the influence of the waves.
What processes can cause changes to the littoral zone?
Short term factors such as individual waves, daily tides and seasonal storms. Long term factors such as changes to sea level or climate change.
What are sediment cells?
They are a series of 11 cells across the UK coastline that are divided by rivers or spits/heads. The sediment tends to move around and within the cells but don’t leave them.
What are the three different types of rock and how are they formed?
Igneous - formed when magma/lava cools. Sedimentary - formed in layers of sediment on top of each other and pressed down. Metamorphic - formed in high pressures and heat squashing and melting different rocks together.
What are some features of a low energy coast?
constructive waves, deposition and transport, long shore drift, beaches, spits, sand dunes, lowland coasts, sheltered from large waves, e.g. Mediterranean sea coasts, East Anglian coast.
What are some features of a high energy coast?
destructive waves, stormy conditions, erosion and transport, mass movement and weathering, cliffs, wave-cut platform, rocky landscapes, exposed to largest waves, e.g. Atlantic coasts of Norway and Scotland.
What is coastal morphology?
The shape of form of coastal landscapes and their features.
What is coastal recession?
Another term for coastal erosion.
What is lithology?
The physical characteristics of particular rocks.
What is a discordant coast?
When the geology alternates between bands of more-resistant and less-resistant rock, which run at right angles to the coast.
What is a concordant coast?
This is where bands of more-resistant and less-resistant rock run parallel to the coast.
What are dalmatian coasts?
They are another type of concordant coastline. They are formed when valleys that run next to the coastline are flooded by rising sea levels. The tops of the ridges that run parallel to the valleys remain visible and this forms a series of offshore islands that runs parallel to the coast.
What are haff coastlines?
They are where long spits of sand and lagoons are aligned parallel to the coast.
