Key Terms: Coastal Landscapes Flashcards
What is Weathering?
Weathering describes the breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals on the surface of Earth
What is mass movement?
Mass movement is the downhill movement of cliff material under the influence of gravity
What is Geology?
Rock Type
What is a discordant coast?
Vertical bands of more and less resistant rock that can lead to the formation of headlands
What is a concordant coastline?
Horizontal layered bands of more and less resistant rock
What is wave refraction?
How waves bend as they hit the coastline at an angle, causing uneven distribution of energy
What is slumping?
Soil or rock debris moving downhill along a slope
What are sub-aerial processes?
land based processes that alter the shape of the coast
What is the cliff/beach profile?
The height and angle of a cliff/beach
eustatic
A eustatic sea level change occurs when there is a global change in the amount of water stored in the oceans, or a change in the geometry of the ocean basins which alters the volume of water they can hold. When the sea level changes in response to the amount of water stored in ice caps this is called glacial-eustasy.
What
What is an Estuary?
The tidal mouth of a large river where the tide meets the stream
What is a Mudflat?
A tidal marsh, a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides
What is Alluvium?
Fine River Sediment
What is Flocculation?
When clay particles clump together through electrical or chemical attraction and become large enough to sink
What is Halosere?
An ecological succession in saline water
What is Thermal Expansion?
When water heats up, expands and rises
What does flocculation create?
Mudflats
