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Physical Geography- Coasts > Glossary > Flashcards

Glossary Flashcards

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1
Q

Abrasion

A

Erosion that involves a ‘sandpapering effect’ as sediment is dragged up and down or across the shoreline, eroding and smoothing rocky surfaces

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2
Q

Accretion

A

Coastal sediment being deposited on a beach making it wider

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3
Q

Arch

A

An arch-shaped rock formation created when two caves join up, or a single cave is eroded through a headland

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4
Q

Attrition

A

The gradual wearing down of rock particles by impact and abrasion, as the pieces of rock are moved by waves, tides and currants

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5
Q

Barrier beach (or bar)

A

Where a beach or spit extends across a bay to join two headlands

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6
Q

Barrier island

A

Where a beach becomes separated from the mainland

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7
Q

Berm

A

A ridge or plateau on the beach formed by the deposition of beach material by wave action

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8
Q

Biological weathering

A

The breakdown of rocks by organic activity

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9
Q

Cave

A

A chamber in the rock formed when joints and faults are eroded by hydraulic action and abrasion

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10
Q

Cavitation

A

When a wave advances and air becomes trapped and compressed in joints in the rocks or between a breaking wave and a cliff

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11
Q

Climatic climax community

A

The final community of species which is adjusted to the climatic conditions of an area

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12
Q

Coastal morphology

A

The origin and evolution of a coast

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13
Q

Compound spit

A

A spit which has a series of ‘barbs’ along it, formed where the transport processes are variable over time

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14
Q

Constructive wave

A

A powerful wave with a strong swash that surges up a beach usually forming a berm

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15
Q

Corrasion

A

When material (such as sand and pebbles) that has been picked up by the waves gets hurled at the cliff foot as the waves break, thus chipping away at the rock

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16
Q

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA)

A

A process by which the financial, social and environmental costs are weighed up against the benefits of a proposal in terms of social outcomes as well as in terms of profit and loss

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17
Q

Cusp

A

Crescent-shaped beach formations with graded sediment; coarse material collects at the ‘horns’ and finer material collects in the ‘bay’ area

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18
Q

Dalmatian coast

A

A submerged landscape of ridges and valleys running parallel to the coast

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19
Q

Destructive wave

A

A wave formed by a local storm that crashes onto a beach and has a powerful backwash

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20
Q

Double spit

A

When two spits extend from opposites side of an estuary

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21
Q

Drift-aligned beach

A

Formed when beach deposits (sand and pebbles) are transferred along a coastline by long shore drift, and accumulate to form a wide beach at a headland where the lateral drift is interrupted

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22
Q

Emergent coastline

A

A coastline created when a fall in sea level exposes land perviously covered by the sea

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23
Q

Environmental refugee

A

Somebody who has been forced to migrate as a result of changes to the environment

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24
Q

eustatic change

A

Variations in the relative sea level resulting from changes in the amount of liquid water entering the oceans (e.g. glacial meltwater at the end of an ice age)

25
Q

fjord

A

Created when a rise in sea level floods a deep glacial trough

26
Q

Halophyte

A

A salt-tolerant plant species

27
Q

Hard engineering

A

Human-made, artificial structures which are designed to protect the land from erosion

28
Q

High energy environment

A

Coastlines with powerful waves where rates of erosion exceed rates of deposition

29
Q

Hydraulic action

A

The sheer force of the water as it crashes against a coastline

30
Q

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

A

A strategy designed to manage complete sections of the coast, rather than individual towns or villages, by bringing together all of those involved in the development, management and use of the coast

31
Q

Isostatic change

A

Rising or falling of a land mass relative to the sea resulting from the release of the weight of ice after the last ice age or by the weight of sediment being deposited

32
Q

Isostatic recovery

A

When the land readjusts and rises as a result of the reduced weight of ice following the end of a glacial periods

33
Q

Isostatic subsidence

A

When the land sinks during glacial periods because of the enormous weight of ice sheets

34
Q

Landform

A

Individual components of a landscape, for example, a cliff, a beach or a wave-cut platform

35
Q

Landscape

A

A broad area usually consisting of several different landforms

36
Q

Landslide

A

When a block of rock moves very rapidly downhill along a planar surface (a slide plane), often a bedding plane that is roughly parallel to the ground surface

37
Q

Landslip (or slump)

A

When a block of land moves very rapidly downhill but it’s slide surface is curved rather than flat, characterised by a sharp break of slope and the formation of a scar

38
Q

Lithology

A

The geological structure of an area

39
Q

Long shore (littoral) drift

A

Coastlines with waves of relative low power where rates of deposition exceed rates of erosion

40
Q

Mass movements

A

The downhill movement of material under the influence of gravity

41
Q

Mudflat

A

Formed in low energy environments, such as river estuaries In the Lee of spits, where the very smallest clay particles drop to the seabed and build up layers of mud

42
Q

Mudflow

A

Involves Earth and mud flowing downhill, usually over unconsolidated or weak bedrock such as clay, often after heavy rainfall

43
Q

Offshore bars

A

Submerged (or partly exposed) ridges of sand or coarse sediment created by waves offshore from the coast

44
Q

Pioneer species

A

The first plants that colonise an area, usually with special adaptations

45
Q

Raised beaches

A

Raised beach the result of isostatic recovery which raises wave cut platforms and their beaches above the present sea level

46
Q

Recurves tip

A

The end of a spit that has curved round, as wave refraction carries material round into more sheltered water behind the spit

47
Q

Ria

A

A sheltered winding inlet with irregular shoreline

48
Q

rip currents

A

Strong localised underwater currents that occur on some beaches

49
Q

Rockfall

A

Involves the sudden collapse or breaking away of individual rock fragments (or a block of rock) at a cliff face

50
Q

Runnels

A

The dips in the foreshore area of a beach between ridges. They are drained down the beach by channels that break the ridges

51
Q

Saltation

A

Rocks or sand that is moved in a series of leaps across a river or sea bed or the desert floor

52
Q

Saltmarsh

A

Coastal ecosystem formed on mudflats (e.g. in a river estuary) largely comprising salt-tolerant plants

53
Q

Sand dune

A

A depositions feature consisting of sand that has been blown off the beach by onshore winds

54
Q

Scree

A

An apron of rock debris, caused by weathering and then slow rates of debris removal

55
Q

Sediment budget

A

An attempt to quantify the various stores and transfers associated with sediment movement

56
Q

Sediment cell

A

A conceptual way of describing sediment movement from a source, through various transfers to a sink or output. This movement is usually cyclical

57
Q

Shoreline Management Plan (SMP)

A

A plan that takes into consideration the risks of coastal processes and attempts to identify sustainable coastal defence and management options

58
Q

Slump (or landslip)

A

When a block of land moves very rapidly downhill but it’s slide surface is curved rather than flat, characterised by a sharp break of slope and the formation of a scar

Physical Geography- Coasts (5 decks)

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