Key Words

Question 1

What is the littoral zone?

Answer 1

The littoral zone is the wider coastal zone, including coastal land areas and shallow parts of the sea just offshore.

Question 2

What are Subaerial processes?

Answer 2

Include weathering processes (physical, chemical and biological), mass movement processes (landslides, rock falls) and surface runoff erosion.

Question 3

What is accretion?

Answer 3

Accretion refers to the deposition of sediment at a coast that expands the area of land.

Question 4

What is wave refraction?

Answer 4

Wave refraction is the process causing wave crests to become curved as they approach a coastline.

Question 5

What are anticlines and synclines?

Answer 5

Types of geological fold caused by tectonic compression. Anticlines for crests and synclines form troughs.

Question 6

What is a cliff profile?

Answer 6

A cliff profile is the height and angle of a cliff face, plus its features such as wave-cut notches or changes in slope angle.

Question 7

What are faults?

Answer 7

Faults are major fractures in rocks produced by tectonic forces and involve displacement of rocks on either side of the fault line.

Question 8

What are micro-features?

Answer 8

Micro-features are small-scale coastal features such as caves and wave-cut notches which form part of a cliff profile.

Question 9

What is unconsolidated material?

Answer 9

Unconsolidated material is sediment that has not been cemented to form solid rock, a process known as lithification.

Question 10

What are clastic rocks?

Answer 10

Clastic rocks consist of sediment particles cemented together.

Question 11

What are crystalline rocks?

Answer 11

Crystalline rocks are made up of interlocking mineral crystals.

Question 12

What is pore water pressure?

Answer 12

Pore water pressure is an internal force within cliffs exerted by the mass of groundwater within permeable rocks.

Question 13

What is plant succession?

Answer 13

Plant succession means the changing structure of a plant community over time as an area of initially bare sediment is colonised.

Question 14

What is the fetch?

Answer 14

Fetch is the uninterrupted distance across water over which a wind blows, and therefore the distance waves have to grow in size.

Question 15

What is the swash?

Answer 15

Swash is the flow of water up a beach with a breaking wave.

Question 16

What is the backwash?

Answer 16

Backwash is the water draining down the beach back into the sea. Both can transport sediment.

Question 17

What is beach morphology?

Answer 17

Beach morphology means the shape of a beach, including its width and slope (the beach profile) and features such as berms, ridges and runnels. It also includes the type of sediment (shingle, sand, mud) found at different locations on the beach.

Question 18

What is longshore drift?

Answer 18

Longshore drift is the net transport of sediment along the beach as a result of sediment transport in the swash and backwash?

Question 19

What is weathering?

Answer 19

Weathering is the in situ breakdown of rocks by chemical, physical or biological agents. It does not involve any movement.

Question 20

What is lithology?

Answer 20

Lithology is the technical terms for different rock types.

Question 21

What is mass movement?

Answer 21

Mass movement refers to the downslope movement of rock and soil. It is an umbrella term for a wide range of specific movements including landslide, rockfall and rotational slide.

Question 22

What is post-glacial adjustment?

Answer 22

Post-glacial adjustment refers to the uplift experienced by land following the removal of the weight of ice sheets.

Question 23

What are rias?

Answer 23

Rias are drowned river valleys in unglaciated areas, caused by sea level rise flooding up the river valley, making it much wider than would be expected based on the river flowing to it.

Question 24

What are barrier islands?

Answer 24

Barrier islands are offshore sediment bars, usually sand-dune covered but, unlike spits, they are not attached to the coast. They are found between 500m and 30km offshore and can be tens of kilometres long.

Question 25

What is the IPCC?

Answer 25

The IPCC, part of the United Nations, is a committee of scientists who periodically review the evidence for global warming.

Question 26

What is thermal expansion?

Answer 26

Thermal expansion, the main driver of sea level rise, occurs because the volume of ocean water increases as global temperatures rise.

Question 27

What is dredging?

Answer 27

Dredging involves scooping or sucking sediment up from the sea bed or a river bed.

Question 28

What is dissipation?

Answer 28

Dissipation is the term used to describe how the energy of waves is decreased by friction with beach material during the wave swash up the beach. A wide beach slows waves down and saps their energy so when they break, most energy has gone.

Question 29

What is a storm surge?

Answer 29

A storm surge is a localised, short-term rise in sea level caused by air pressure change.

Question 30

What is amenity value?

Answer 30

Amenity value is the value in cultural, human wellbeing and economic terms of an attractive environment that people enjoy using.

Question 31

What are environmental refugees?

Answer 31

Environmental refugees are communities forced to abandon their homes because of natural processes, including sudden ones such as landslides or gradual ones such as erosion or rising sea levels.

Question 32

What is sustainable coastal management?

Answer 32

Sustainable coastal management means managing the wider coastal zone in terms of people and their economic livelihood, social and cultural wellbeing, safety from coastal hazards, as well as minimising environmental and ecological impacts.

Question 33

What is conflict (in the context of coastal management)?

Answer 33

Conflict, in the context of coastal management, means disagreement over how the coast should be protected from threats and which areas should be protected. Often conflict exists between different stakeholders, such as residents versus the local council.

Question 34

What is ICZM?

Answer 34

ICZM is coastal management planning over the long term, involving all stakeholders, working with natural processes and using ‘adaptive management’, i.e. changing plans as threats change.

Question 35

What are littoral cells?

Answer 35

Littoral cells contain sediment sources, transport paths and sinks. Each littoral cell is isolated from adjacent cells, and can be managed as a holistic unit.