EQ2

Question 1

What is the Severn Bore Wave?

Answer 1

It is a wave that forms when rising tides push water in a funnel motion down the River Severn Estuary in West England. It occurs twice a day 130 days a year.

Question 2

Why are tides important?

Answer 2

Tides determine the strength of waves depending on their length, and therefore factors such as erosion and flooding are increased due to higher tidal wave fetches.

Question 3

How do destructive waves affect beach morphology?

Answer 3

They create concave beaches, with strong backwash, which creates a steep profile.

Question 4

How do constructive waves affect beach morphology?

Answer 4

They create convex beaches, with strong swash creating a berm. and therefore a gradual and gentle slope to the beach.

Question 5

How do pebbles sizes change along a beach?

Answer 5

Offshore they are larger, nearshore they are smaller, they are smallest between the nearshore and the foreshore. They become large again at the foreshore, and then rapidly decrease size until they get to the backshore, where they are smallest.

Question 6

How do waves influence beach morphology?

Answer 6

P1: Destructive waves create steep profiles
P2: Constructive waves create gradual berms and gradual profiles.
P3: Waves with longer fetch create smaller pebbles due to higher energy in the waves.

Question 7

What are the four processes of erosion?

Answer 7

Abrasion
Attrition
Hydraulic action
Solution

Question 8

How does abrasion work? How does it influence cliff profiles?

Answer 8

Abrasion is the process where rocks are hurled against cliff faces using wave energy, and therefore chip away at the cliff face using force. This causes features such as wave-cut notches to occur, and for processes such as rockfall to occur as well.

Question 9

How does attrition work? How does it affect coastal profiles?

Answer 9

Attrition is the process whereby rocks grind together within water, and therefore using friction, they break down into smoother and smaller sediment. This affects the patterns of pebble size we see at each end of a stretch of longshore drift.

Question 10

How does solution work? How does it affect coastal profiles?

Answer 10

Solution is the process whereby chemicals in water break down the rock on a cliff face by dissolving it. This can create smoother surfaces on rocky cliffs, due to the evening out of rough terrain.

Question 11

How does hydraulic action work? How does this affect coastal morphology?

Answer 11

Hydraulic action is the process where water is forced into the faults on a cliff face, which are then broken apart further from the compressed air which exploits the cracks. This therefore creates coastal features such as caves and arches.

Question 12

What is the most important feature which is creates on a headland?

Answer 12

A wave-cut notch.

Question 13

What are the four sediment transportation processes?

Answer 13

Solution
Saltation
Traction
Suspension

Question 14

What is solution in terms of sediment transportation, and how does it impact beach morphology?

Answer 14

Small pieces of sediment dissolve into the water, and are carried from one end of the beach to another during processes of longshore drift.

Question 15

What is saltation, and how does it impact beach morphology?

Answer 15

Saltation is the process whereby relatively average size pieces of sediment bounce along the sea bed. This causes pebbles to move from one end of the beach to another under the influence of longshore drift.

Question 16

What is suspension, and how does it impact beach morphology?

Answer 16

Suspension is the process where smaller pieces of sediment are suspended in the water, as the weight of gravity is not enough to drop it to the ocean floor. Therefore, small pieces of sediment can be transported long distances.

Question 17

What is traction, and how does it impact beach morphology?

Answer 17

Traction is the process whereby large pieces of sediment is rolled along the sea bed due to the energy from the ocean not being enough to lift the sediment from off of the sea bed.

Question 18

What is longshore drift impacted by?

Answer 18

Wind direction, due to wind creating waves.

Question 19

How many sediment cells are there along the UK coast?

Answer 19

11

Question 20

How many SMP’s are there along the UK coast?

Answer 20

22

Question 21

What is a sediment cell?

Answer 21

The transferring, deposition, collection, and creation of sediment along a stretch of coastline.

Question 22

What are the key sources of sediment into a sediment cell system?

Answer 22

Cliffs
Eroding sand dunes
spits
beaches
offshore bars
river banks.

Question 23

What is a temporary sink for sediment?

Answer 23

A place where sediment is only stored temporarily.
A bar, spit, beach, and dune.

Question 24

What is a permanent sink of sediment?

Answer 24

offshore bar, estuary.

Question 25

Can sediment move between sediment cells?

Answer 25

Only small pieces of sediment can be moved. Physical barriers stop larger pieces from moving such as headlands or bays.

Question 26

What is the sediment amount available to each sediment cell?

Answer 26

Thge sediment budget

Question 27

What will occur if the sediment budget is increased?

Answer 27

Positive feedback will occur, and erosion will eventually transfer the excess sediment until new sediment is formed.

Question 28

What will occur if the sediment budget is decreased?

Answer 28

Negative feedback will occur, and erosional processes will occur quicker, causing more coastal recession.

Question 29

What is the sub-cell in sediment cell 5 which is a really important geographical feature?

Answer 29

Christchurch Bay.

Question 30

What is the difference between erosion and weathering?

Answer 30

Erosion = requires movement of rock or water
weathering = occurs to the rock in situ.

Question 31

What is an example of chemical weathering, and where does it occur?

Answer 31

Freeze-thaw weathering
(Wate expands by 9% when freezing, causing water within rocks to exploit faults,causing the breakdown of rock)
This occurs in high-up places, aay from salt spray. In a place where freezing occurs, such as in Scotland.

Question 32

What is an example of biological weathering, and where does it occur?

Answer 32

Plant roots will break down rocks through coming between sediment planes, and seperating them. This occurs in highly vegetated areas such as the coast of Rio, Brazil.

Question 33

What is an example of mehanical weathering, and where does it occur?

Answer 33

carbonation is the process where limestone is dissolved due to the slight acidity of rain compared to limestone. This creates calcium bicarbonate.

Question 34

What are the five processes of mass movement?

Answer 34

Rotational slumping
Rockfall
topple
Flow
slide

Question 35

What is rotational slumping and how does it affect coastal features?

Answer 35

Rotational slumping is the process where unconsolidated sediment on top of cliffs becomes saturated throuigh rainfall. Th eweight of this sediment then causes the rock underneath to slump under the pressure. This then causes piles of debris to build up on beaches. This occurs in Holderness, where boulder clay becomes saturated, and cauyses large amounts of coastal recession.

Question 36

What is rockfall and how does it impact coastal features?

Answer 36

Rockfall is the process where strata has been undercut by erosional processes, and the weightof rock on top of the undercut strata lyers becomes too heavy, and large volumes of rock fall onto the beach. This occured in St. Oswald’s Bay in Dorset, where large volumes of chalk plummetted onto the beach.

Question 37

What is topple?

Answer 37

It is the mass movemement process where vertical strata becomes too heavy for the layers to stay cemeneted together, therefore entire slabs of rock tumble, and create debris on the ground.

Question 38

What is flow?

Answer 38

The process where unconcolidated mud sediment is saturated through rain, and finds the path of least resistance through rock, and therefore flows out onto the beach as a mudflow.

Question 39

What is slide?

Answer 39

It is the process where slabs of rock which are horizontally laid becomes too heavy to remain cemented to the other rock strata, and therefore slides down the beach, increasing debris onto the beach.

Question 40

What is Chesil Beach an example of?

Answer 40

Barrier beach / bar