Lecture 15 Flashcards
What is another name for backshore?
Supratidal
What is another name for foreshore?
Inter-tidal
What is another name for nearshore?
Sub-tidal
What is surf beat?
Groups of waves larger due to combined wave swells
Describe wind waves
High energy short and do most work over longer period of time
Define fetch.
The distance of wind blowing long fetch more waves more energy
What is the wave motion offshore?
Oscillatory motion
Describe wave motion nearshore.
Waves begin to feel the bottom and stand up
Where are eddies?
In a wave motion
What is a swash zone
Water uprush on a beach
What are the 3 main wave modification processes
Refraction
Diffraction
Reflection
What is refraction?
Change in direction due to shoaling in shallow water. Waves bend to parallel to the shore. It also focuses erosion on headlands
What is diffraction?
Waves bending around objects and recombine constructively and destructively
Define wave reflection.
Some incoming wave energy is reflected by steep beaches and sea walls
What is a tombolo?
A diffraction landform which is a strip of land connecting mainland to an object-called an isthmus
Do shallow beaches dissipate more or less energy steep beaches?
Shallow beaches dissipate more energy
Steep beaches reflect _______ energy than shallow beaches
More
What factors on a beach dissipate energy?
Sand particle Beach steepness Friction Shoaling Slope activity
Can incoming and reflective waves combine?
Yes destructively and constructively
What is a spring tide?
It is the biggest tide occurring because the sun and moon gravitational pull is constructive
What is a neap tide?
Sun and moon are perpendicular to eachother causing destructive low tides
Are beaches sensitive to changes in climate?
Yes
