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Coasts > EQ1 > Flashcards

EQ1 Flashcards

1
Q

what does the littoral zone consist of?

A

the backshore, nearshore, and offshore zones

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2
Q

coasts can be classified by what longer term criteria?

A

geology and changes to sea levels.

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3
Q

coasts can be classified by what shorter term criteria?

A

inputs from rivers, waves, and tides
wave energy
wave type

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4
Q

what is geological structure responsible for ?

A

the formation of concordant and discordant coasts.

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5
Q

what type of coasts are coastal plain landscapes?

A

sandy and estuarine coasts.

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6
Q

what does geological structure influence?

A

coastal morphology
erosion rates
formation of cliff profiles
occurrence of microfeatures eg caves

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7
Q

why is vegetation important?

A

vegetation is important in stabilising sandy coastlines through marsh successional development in estuarine areas.

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8
Q

What is the zone of breaking waves called ?

A

Breakpoint bar

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9
Q

What are the short term factors that cause the littoral zone to vary?

A

Individual waves, daily tides, seasonal storms

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10
Q

What are the long term factors that would change the littoral zone?

A

Changes to sea levels, climate change

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11
Q

Where do most physical processes operate?

A

Backshore and foreshore

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12
Q

What human activities afffect the coast?

A 
Rising sea levels 
Dredging of offshore areas (material for construction) 
Building of coastal defences 
Dredging of rivers for navigation 
Dams
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13
Q

How is the coastline divided in England/wales?

A

11 sediment/littoral cells in which processes are closely linked

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14
Q

What are the inputs into coastal systems ?

A

1) marine: waves, tides, storm surges
2) atmospheric: weather, climate change
3) land: rock type, structure, tectonics
4) people: human activity, coastal management

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15
Q

What processes affect the coast?

A

1) weathering
2) mass movement
3) erosion
4) transport
5) deposition

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16
Q

What are the outputs of coastal systems ?

A

Erosional landforms
Depositional landforms
Types of coast

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17
Q

What is submergence ?

A

Sea level rise

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18
Q

What is emergence ?

A

Tectonic uplift

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19
Q

What is coastal morphology?

A

The shape and form of coastal landscapes and their features

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20
Q

What is lithology?

A

The physical characteristics of particular rocks

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21
Q

How does tectonic uplift link to coastal morphology?

A

Changes angles of different rock layers and their movement and position

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22
Q

What is the erosion rate of igneous rocks ?

A

1mm/ year

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23
Q

Erosion rate of sedimentary ?

A

2.5cm/ year

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24
Q

2 examples of igneous?

A

Granite

Basalt

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25
Q

3 examples of sedimentary?

A

Chalk
Limestone
Slate

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26
Q

2 examples of metamorphic?

A

Marble

Gneiss

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27
Q

Example of unconsolidated material?

A

Boulder Clay

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28
Q

Is metamorphic rock permeable?

A

Nah

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29
Q

Is igneous rock permeable ?

A

Nope

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30
Q

What are strata ?

A

Layers of rock

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31
Q

What are bedding planes ?

A

(Horizontal cracks ) Natural breaks in the strata, caused by gaps in time during rock formation

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32
Q

What are vertical cracks called and how are they caused?

A

Joints- fractures, caused by either contraction as sediments dry out, or by earth movements during uplift

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33
Q

How are folds formed ?

A

By pressure during tectonic activity, which makes rocks buckle and crumple

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34
Q

What’s an example of a fold?

A

Lulworth Crumple

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35
Q

How are faults formed ?

A

When the stress or pressure to which a rock is subjected exceeds its internal strength, causing it to fracture

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36
Q

What’s a dip?

A

Refers to the angle at which strata lie ( horizontal, vertical, dipping towards towards sea, dipping inland)

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37
Q

What does lithology include ?

A
  • geological structure
  • how porous rock is
  • grain size, rock structure
  • composition
38
Q

What waves are characteristic of low energy coasts?

A

Less powerful ( constructive) waves , calmer conditions, shorter fetch

39
Q

What processes are characteristic of low energy coasts ?

A

Deposition, transport, sediments from rivers, longshore drift, nearshore currents

40
Q

What landforms are characteristic of low energy coasts ?

A

Beaches, spits, salt marshes, sand dunes, bars, mudflats

41
Q

What are examples of low energy coasts ?

A

Mediterranean Sea

East Anglian coast

42
Q

What are the general locations of low energy coasts?

A

Sheltered from large waves
Lowland coasts
Coastal plain landscapes

43
Q

What waves are characteristic of high energy coasts ?

A

More powerful (destructive) waves, storm conditions, long fetches

44
Q

What is the backshore zone ?

A

Above high tide level and only affected by waves during major storms and exceptionally high tides.

45
Q

What is the foreshore zone?

A

Where wave processes occur between the high and low tide marks.

46
Q

What is the nearshore zone?

A

Shallow water areas close to land and used extensively for fishing, coastal trading, and leisure.

47
Q

What is the offshore zone?

A

Open sea

48
Q

What are primary coasts ?

A

Dominated by land based processes

49
Q

What are 2 examples of lad based processes ?

A

Deposition at the coast from rivers, new coastal land formed from lava flows.

50
Q

What are secondary coasts ?

A

Dominated by marine erosion or deposition processes.

51
Q

What are the 2 main cliff profile types ?

A

1) marine erosion dominated

2) sub aerial process dominated

52
Q

What do marine erosion dominated cliffs look like ?

A

Steep face
Active undercutting
Limited cliff base debris

53
Q

What do subaerial process dominated cliff profiles look like?

A

Curved slope profile
Lower angle face
Accumulated debris (not actively eroded at the base by waves)

54
Q

What are 3 ways coastal plains are formed ? And examples of each

A

1) sea level falls exposing seabed of what was once a shallow continental shelf sea, e.g. Atlantic coastal plain, USA
2) sediment brought from land by river systems is deposited causing coastal accretion so coastlines gradually move seaward-e.g. River deltas
3) sediment moves from offshore sources (sand bars) towards the coast by ocean currents.

55
Q

What are the 3 elements to geological structure that influence micro features?

A

1) strata
2) deformation
3) faulting

56
Q

What are strata ?

A

Different layers of rock exposed on a cliff

57
Q

What is deformation ?

A

Tilting and folding by tectonic activity.

58
Q

What is faulting ?

A

Major fractures that have moved rocks from their original positions.

59
Q

What is an example of a discordant coastline ?

A

West Cork, Ireland

60
Q

What is the effect of wave refraction?

A

1) To concentrate powerful waves at headlands, creating more erosion
2) creating lower, diverging wave crests on bays, reducing erosion.

61
Q

What are the layers of rock at lulworth cove ?

A

Outside: hard Portland limestone, resistant purbecks
Inside: sedimentary Wealden beds
At the back there’s chalk to stop the cove from eroding back any further.

62
Q

What is the geology at the Adriatic Sea Dalmatian coast?

A

Limestone, which has been folded by tectonic activity into a series of anticlines and synclines that run parallel to the coastline.

63
Q

What are anticlines and synclines ?

A

Types of geological fold caused by tectonic compression:
anticline-crest
syncline-trough

64
Q

What are the 4 kinds of cliff profile ?

A

Horizontal dip
Seaward sip high angle
Seaward dip low angle
Landward dip

65
Q

Horizontal dip cliff profile ?

A

Vertical profile w notches reflecting strata that are more easily eroded.

66
Q

Seaward dip cliff profile ?

A

Sloping, low angle profile w 1 rock layer facing the sea, vulnerable to rock slides down the dip slope.

67
Q

Seaward dip low angle cliff profile ?

A

May exceed 90 degrees–> areas of overhanging rock

V vulnerable to rock falls

68
Q

Landward dip cliff

Profile ?

A

Steep profiles 70-80 degrees producing v stable cliff w reduced rock falls.

69
Q

What other geological features influence cliff profiles and rates of erosion?

A

1) faults- either side of a fault line rocks are often heavily fractured- weaknesses exploited by marine erosion.
2) joints
3) fissures- much smaller cracks in the rock, represent weaknesses erosion can exploit.
4) folded rocks- often heavily fissured- more easily eroded.

70
Q

What are micro features ?

A

Small scale coastal features eg caves, wave cut notches- form part of cliff profile.

71
Q

What is the difference between clastic and crystalline rocks ?

A

Clastic- sediment particles cemented together

Crystalline- made of interlocking mineral crystals.

72
Q

Why is permeability of rock important in cliffs ?

A

Groundwater flow through rock layers can:
1) weaken rocks by removing the cement that binds sediments together
2) create high pore water presses within cliffs which affects their stability.
Water emerging from below ground into a cliff face at a spring can run down the cliff face and cause surface run off erosion, weakening the cliff.

73
Q

what kind of coastlines are protected by plants?

A

coastal sand dunes
salt marshes
mangrove swamps

74
Q

how does vegetation stabilise coastal sediment?

A

1) roots bind sediment particles together making them harder to erode.
2) when submerged plants provide a protective layer so the sediment surface is not directly exposed to moving water and erosion.
3) plants reduce wind speed at the surface because of friction with the vegetation, protecting sediment from erosion by wind.

75
Q

what are halophytes?

A

salt tolerant plants

76
Q

what are xerophytes?

A

drought tolerant plants

77
Q

what forms the first stage of plant succession?

A

when pioneer plant species begin to grow in bare sand or mud.

78
Q

what is plant succession?

A

the changing structure of a plant community over time as an are of initially bare sediment is colonised.

79
Q

what is each step in plant succession called?

A

a seral stage

80
Q

what is the end result of plant succession?

A

a climatic climax community

81
Q

what are 2 examples of coastal climatic climax communities?

A

sand dune ecosystems

salt marsh ecosystems

82
Q

what is a climatic climax community?

A

biological community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state.

83
Q

what do embryo dune pioneer plants do?

A
  • stabilise the mobile sand by their root systems
  • reduce wind speeds at the sand surface allowing more sand to be deposited
  • add dead organic matter to the sand, beginning the process of soil formation
84
Q

going from the sea to the land, what kind of plants would you expect to see on the dunes?

A

saltwort, sea rocket
marram grass
heather, creeping willow
bramble, pine

85
Q

what do rocky coasts result from?

A

resistant geology to erosive forces of sea, rain, and wind
high and low relief
high energy environment

86
Q

what do coastal plain landscapes result from?

A

supply of sediment from different terrestrial and
offshore sources, often in a low-energy environment.
low relief

87
Q

what is geological structure responsible for?

A

CONCORDANT AND DISCORDANT COASTS which in turn influence coastal morphology (bays, headlands etc) and jointing, dip, faulting, folding

88
Q

what is a haff coastline?

A

a long shallow lagoon separated from the open sea by a narrow sandbar or barrier beach (that booky thing where you’re on a barrier beach in the open sea)

89
Q

what is an example of a haff coastline?

A

the whole baltic sea tbh

eg curonian lagoon, lithuania

90
Q

how do wave types influence beaches?

A

they influence:
beach morphology
beach sediment profiles

91
Q

what landforms does erosion create?

A

wave cut notches, wave cut platforms, cliffs, the cave-arch-stack stump sequence

Coasts (4 decks)

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