Living in the UK Today - LOUK (Definitions) Flashcards
What is the definition of erosion?
Erosion is the wearing away of the landscape by a moving force (water, wind or ice )
What is a spit?
An extended stretch of beach material that has been transported from elsewhere and deposited by the sea
What is wave refraction?
As waves approach a coast they are refracted so that their energy is concentrated around headlands but reduced around bays
What is a headland?
A section of land jutting out into the sea
What is a Bay?
The areas where soft rock has eroded away, next to the headland, are called bays
What is a Rock Fall?
Large and small fragments of rock are continually weather and eroded until they seperate and fall from the cliff as whole parts
What is a Rock Slide?
A usually rapid downward movement of rock fragments down an inclined surface
What is soft engineering?
A sustainable approach to management without building artificial structures and working with natural processes
What is hard engineering?
Building artificial structure aimed at controlling natural processes
What is an Ox-bow lake?
U-shaped body of water that forms when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off, creating a freestanding body of water
What is a levee?
natural embankments which are formed when a river floods
What is a meander?
A winding curve or bending in a river
What is Mass Movement
Sudden movement of material down a slope due to the pull of gravity
What is Oxidation?
Oxidation is when minerals are weakened when exposed to the air
What is Biological weathering?
Weakening and subsequent disintegration of rock by chemical reactions
What is mechanical/physical weathering?
geological process of rocks breaking apart without changing their chemical composition
What is deposition?
Where water dumps and leaves behind the material it has been carrying
What is solution(transport)?
Dissolved minerals within water
What is saltation?
Small stones (1.0 – 99.99mm) bounced along river/sea bed
What is suspension?
Very small particles of sand and silt (0.001-0.99mm) carried in the flow of water
What is traction?
Large stones and boulders (>100mm) rolled along river/sea bed
What is solution(erosion)?
Some minerals, such as calcium carbonate in limestone, and chalk slowly dissolve in water which is slightly acidic
What is Attrition?
load carried by water collides into each other and rubs against each other, breaking the rocks up into smaller and smaller pieces. These pieces become smaller and rounder as rough edges are worn away.
What is abraion/corrasion?
Where material carried by the water rubs against a surface which wears the material away
What is Hydraulic Action?
Hydraulic action is when the force of the water compresses air into any cracks. The air expands explosively outwards as the pressure is released by the receding water. This removes fine material and enlarges cracks.
What is freeze-thaw weathering?
when water continually seeps into cracks, freezes and expands, eventually breaking the rock apart
What is a landscape?
All the visble features of an area of land, natural and man-made
What is an Upland?
Elevated areas of land including hills and mountains (often above 600m)
What is a lowland?
flat, rolling landscapes, close to sea level and lie below 200m
What is igneous rock?
Produced when magma cools, either beneath the ground or above the surface
What is metamorphic rock?
Action of heat and pressure changes the existing rock to form a new structure and rock
What is sedimentary rock?
Made form skeletons or marine organisms (coccoliths) and other sediments, laid down and compacted at the bottom of the ocean
