EQ2: 4.3- Distinctive Coastal Landscapes Are Influenced By Geology Interacting With Physical Processes

Question 1

What is the rock type like on a concordant coastline?

Answer 1

Concordant: when rock (strata) are at parallel to the coast. These have the same rock type.

Question 2

What features are found on a concordant coastline?

Answer 2

A concordant coastline is a coastline were theres a long parallel coastline which has one type of rock. This rock is hard meaning it is harder to erode rock of the coast.

Question 3

What is the rock type like on a discordant coastline?

Answer 3

when rock (strata) are at a right angle to the coast. These have different rock types.

Question 4

What features are found on a discordant coastline?

Answer 4

A discordant coastline contains different types of rock along the coastline, this means it can contain soft and hard rock which can form bays and headlands.

Question 5

What is an example of a concordant and discordant coastline?

Answer 5

An example of a discordant coastline would include: Durlston bay, swanage bay south and ballards point.
And a long concordant coastline would include just durlston bay and along its side.

Question 6

What are joints and faults, and how do they effect erosion?

Answer 6

Joints: are small cracks found in rocks. They are usually vertical.
Faults: are larger Cracks caused by past tectonic movement where rocks have moved
They effect erosion as the more cracks and gaps there are in a rock, it is more likely going to be effected by hydraulic action and it is more likely to chip off meaning erosion can occur.

Question 7

What is the difference between hard and soft rock? Give examples

Answer 7

Soft rocks are: Smooth, permeable, can dissolve more easily, and easily eroded.

Hard rocks are: Brittle, very dense, insoluble and can be impermeable.

Question 8

Describe what are the characteristics of headlands and bays?

Answer 8

Headlands (hard rock) are long sections of land sticking out into the sea.
And the area next to the headland, are called bays (soft rock), bays are normally round and have sand on them.

Question 9

Explain how headlands and bays are formed?

Answer 9

a headland is formed when the sea attacks a section of the coast with a mixture of hard and soft rocks (discordant coastline), the soft rock is eroded back more quickly and the hard rock is eroded slower meaning that a long headland of rock is jutting out into the sea while right next to it theres a curved, round beach like coast eroded far back.

Question 10

Describe what are the characteristics of a wave cut platform?

Answer 10

A wave cut platform/cliff has a curve/ notch,
The cliff keeps retreating the more the process of cliff erosion happens
Weather cam weaken the top of the cliff.
They have a slope that is curved going into the sea.

Question 11

Explain how are wave cut platforms formed?

Answer 11

1) weather weakens the top of the cliff
2) the sea attacks the base of the cliff forming a wave- cut notch
3) the notch increases in size causing the cliff to collapse
4) the backwash carries the rubble towards the sea forming a wave cut platform
5) the process repeats and the cliff continues to retreat.

Question 12

What are the characteristics of a stump/arch/stack and how are they formed

Answer 12

A cave is formed due to hydraulic action, if the cabe is formed in a headland, it may break through to the other side and form a arch.
The arch will eventually get bigger until it it cant support the top of the arch, it will eventually collapse and leave a stack (a tall column of rock). The stack will keep on getting attacked by the same way a wave cut notch is formed. Eventually, the stack will collapse and form a stump.
Some characteristics are: a stump is a small boulder in out in the coast, and arch is like a bridge made of rock, and a stack is a tall column of rock.

Question 13

What three factors effect wave energy?

Answer 13

Wave energy is effected by:

how long the wind has been blowing
the strength of the wind
how far the wave and wind has travelled (the fetch)

Question 14

Where in the uk has the biggest waves and why?

Answer 14

In the SW of the Uk because it faces the north Atlantic ocean and this means that the wind can come from the ocean with strong waves as it creates a long fetch, strong winds and the length of the winds could have travelled far.

Question 15

Describe what are the characteristics of a destructive wave?

Answer 15

Destructive waves are created in storm conditions.

They are created from big, strong waves when the wind is powerful and has been blowing for a long time.

They occur when wave energy is high and the wave has travelled over a long fetch.

They tend to erode the coast.

They have a strong backwash and a weak swash.

They have a short wave length and are high and steep.

Question 16

Explain how rotational slumping mass movement breaks down cliffs?

Answer 16

Rain falls and it accumulates at the boundary between sand and clay which lubricates the boundary.
Clay is impermeable and prevents water moving through it.
Sand is permeable and allows water to pass through it
The sand becomes saturated and will dramatically move
The movement is in a rotational slump and leaves a stepped landscape

Question 17

Explain how to rockfalls break down a cliff?

Answer 17

1) Erosion at the base, or weathering at the top of the cliff weakens the cliff.
2) The cliff becomes unsupported and sometimes
lubricated by rain.
3) Joints or bedding planes are aligned diagonally to the
sea
4) Due to gravity the rocks slide down the cliff face
(usually staying in one piece)
5) It moves in a straight, diagonal line.

Question 18

Define: Abrasion

Answer 18

When rocks are picked up by the wave and thrown or smash against the cliff causing a sandpaper like effects, removing the rock gradually.

Question 19

What is the difference between: Traction, Saltation, suspension and solution.

Answer 19

Traction: Pebbles and larger sediment are rolled along the sea bed.
Saltation: Pebbles and larger sediment is bounced and hops along the sea bed, as the sediment is too heavy to be suspended.
Suspension: This is when particles and rocks are carried (suspended) within the water.
Solution: dissolved chemicals often derived from limestone and chalk, these minerals aren’t visible.

Question 20

Explain how LSD works

Answer 20

Long shore drift occurs when:
1) prevailing wind pushes the waves to go towards the beach.
2) waves approach the beach at the same direction as the prevailing wind
3) swash moves the sediment up the beach in the same direction as the wind.
4) backwash moves the sediment down the beach at a right angle due to gravity.
5) The next wave picks up the sediment and the process is repeated
as the sediment moves down the coastline.

Question 21

Explain how a spit forms

Answer 21

1) LSD moves material along the coastline
2) when the coastline changes dramatically, sand and sediment start to build up behind the headland
3) over time more and more material is added to the spit.
4) The area behind the headland is sheltered and a marsh begins to form.
5) Finally, if the wind changes, the spit develops a hook.

Question 22

Explain deposition on the coast

Answer 22

When the sea loses energy, it drops the sand, rock particles and pebbles it has been carrying onto the coastline, deposition happens when the swash is stronger than the backwash.

This can happen when:
Waves enter an area of shallow water
There is little wind
Waves enter a sheltered area by coves or bays.

Question 23

Compare the characteristics of a spit to a bar

Answer 23

A spit and a bar have been made by LSD,
A spit and a bar both shelter a bay,
A spit and a bar can only be formed by a headland.

Question 24

Explain the formation of a Bar.

Answer 24

The formation of a bar is formed as a spit, however, it also grows across a bay joining up two headlands and sheltering a bay.

Question 25

Define: Hydraulic action

Answer 25

The process where the sheer force of water being forced into cracks in the rock causing the crack to increase and. Rock then chips of

Question 26

Define: Attrition

Answer 26

When rocks held in the waves smash into each other gradually breaking up the rock until is it smaller and smoother.

Question 27

Define: Solution

Answer 27

When the acidity in the sea dissolves softer rocks such as limestone or chalk.

Question 28

Define: Biological weathering

Answer 28

Plants and roots grow underground,
This makes the rocks have gaps and get cracked,
Animals burrow under rock as well, making more cracks,
Eventually the rock breaks off.

Question 29

Explain the transport of material in the sea?

Answer 29

eroded from cliffs
transported by longshore drift along the coastline
brought inland from offshore by constructive waves
carried to the coastline by rivers

Question 30

Describe the characteristics of a constructive wave

Answer 30

They are created in calm weather and are less powerful than destructive waves.

They break on the shore and deposit material, building up beaches.

They have a swash that is stronger than the backwash.

They have a long wavelength, and are low in height.

Question 31

Define: freeze thraw weathering

Answer 31

Water enters cracks,
Water freezes,
Water expands making cracks bigger,
Repeated process until cracks get huge and rock falls apart.

Question 32

Define: Chemical weathering

Answer 32

This type of weathering erodes the coast by:
Plants make the water acidic, Water brushes of against the cliff,
The acidic water dissolves limestone and chalk,
Process is repeated until a lot of the coast is eroded.