Sediment sources, cells and budgets

Question 1

What are the potential sources of sediment?

Answer 1

Cliffs, landslip, river, sea creatures and marine organisms, tides and ocean currents, longshore drift.

Question 2

Give examples of sediment sinks.

Answer 2

Beaches, spits, bars, sand banks, offshore bars

Question 3

What happens in a typical littoral cell?

Answer 3

. Longshore currents redistribute sediment within the cell
. sediment is gained from eroding sections of the coastline called ‘sources’ and lost to sections experiencing deposition

Question 4

What is river discharge?

Answer 4

Sediment and fine material brought to an estuary and entering the sea

Question 5

What are ocean currents?

Answer 5

These may transport material thousands of miles away.

Question 6

What is a seabed disturbance?

Answer 6

Severe storms can destabilise material on the sea floor and move it towards the coast.

Question 7

What is cliff and shore disintegration?

Answer 7

The transfer of materials as cliffs erode and upper material is removed into the active zone of coasts.

Question 8

What is a sediment cell?

Answer 8

A stretch of coastline within which the process of erosion, transportation and deposition operate and the movement of sediment is largely self- contained.

Question 9

What are the key characteristics of a sediment cell?

Answer 9

. 11 sediment cells in the UK
. Larger cells are divided into sub- cells
. Separated from each other by well-defined boundaries, such as headlands and stretches of deep water.

Question 10

What is a sediment budget?

Answer 10

The balance between inputs (usually from erosion) and outputs ( usually from deposition)