Sand dunes

Question 1

When do sand dunes occur?

Answer 1

when prevailing winds blow sediment to the back of the beach

Question 2

What the formation of sand dunes requires?

Answer 2

Large quantities of sand, large tidal range, frequent and strong onshore wind (aeolian energy)

Question 3

Along with which process sand dunes develop?

Answer 3

Plant succession

Question 4

What is psamosere?

Answer 4

An ecological succession that began life on a newly exposed coastal sand, most common psamoseres are sand dune systems.

Question 5

Embryo dunes are

Answer 5

Upper beach area where sand starts to accumulate around a small obstacle (driftwood, wooden peg, ridge of shingle)

Question 6

Yellow dunes

Answer 6

As more sand accumulates and the dune growns, vegetation may develop on the upper and back dune surfaces, which stabilises the dune. The tallest of the dune
succession

Question 7

Grey dunes

Answer 7

Sand develops into soil with lots of moisture and nutrients, as vegetation dies, enabling more varied plant growth

Question 8

Dune slack

Answer 8

The water table rises closer to the surface, or water is trapped between hollows between dunes during storms, allowing the development of moisture-loving plants
(e.g. willow grass)

Question 9

Heath and woodland

Answer 9

Sandy soils develop as there is a greater nutrients content,
allowing for less brackish plants to thrive. Trees will also grow (willow, birch, oak trees) with the coastal woodland becoming a natural windbreak to the mainland behind