How do characteristic coastal landforms contribute to coastal landforms?

Question 1

constructive waves

Answer 1

a low, surging wave with a strong swash that surges up a beach usually form a berm

Question 2

destructive waves

Answer 2

a high, plunging wave that crashes onto a beach and has a powerful backwash causing sediment to be pulled back towards the sea

Question 3

hydraulic action

Answer 3

• air trapped in cracks and fissures is compressed by the force of waves crashing against the cliff face
• pressure forces cracks open, meaning more air is trapped and greater force is experienced in the next cycle of compression
• this process dislodges blocks of rock from the cliff face

Question 4

corrosion (solution)

Answer 4

• carbonate rocks (limestones) are vulnerable to solution by rainwater, spray from the sea and seawater

Question 5

abrasion (corrasion)

Answer 5

• sediment picked up by breaking waves is thrown against the cliff face
• the sediment acts on the cliff like a tool, chiselling away at the surface and gradually wearing it down

Question 6

attrition

Answer 6

• as sediment is moved around by waves, the numerous collisions between particles slowly chip fragments off the sediment, making it smaller and more rounded over time

Question 7

wave-cut notch

Answer 7

a notch in the rock created by erosion as waves break against the foot of a cliff
the notch will get bigger causing the cliff to be undercut

Question 8

4 sediment transport processes

Answer 8

traction
saltation
suspension
solution

Question 9

traction

Answer 9

sediment rolls along, pushed by waves and currents

Question 10

saltation

Answer 10

sediment bounces along, either because of the force of water or or wind

Question 11

suspension

Answer 11

sediment is carried in the water column

Question 12

solution

Answer 12

dissolved material is carried in he water as a solution

Question 13

name some depositional landforms

Answer 13

spit
bayhead beach
tombolo
barrier beach/bar
hooked/recurved spit
cuspate foreland

Question 14

what is a sediment cell

Answer 14

a length of coastline and its associated nearshore area within which the movement of coarse sediment (sand and shingle) is largely contained
there are 11 sediment cells around England and Wales some of which can be divided into sub-cells

Question 15

whats a barrier beach/ bar?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

define coastal morphology

Answer 16

the shape and form of coastal landscapes and their features

Question 17

what is a cuspate foreland?

Answer 17

a triangular shaped headland that extends out from the main coastline, where a coast is exposed to longshore drift from opposite directions

Question 18

what is a double spit?

Answer 18

when two spits extend from opposite sides of an estuary

Question 19

what is a tombolo?

Answer 19

ridge of beach material that has formed between an island and the mainland

Question 20

name some erosional landforms

Answer 20

headlands and bays
cliffs
wave cut notch
shoreline platform
cave, arch, stack, stump