The Coastal Zone Flashcards
What are the characteristics of a Destructive wave.
Larger in height.
Weak swash
Strong backwash which pulls sand and shingle down the beach.
What are the features of a constructive wave?
Smaller in height.
Strong swash pushes material up the beach.
Weak backwash with little erosion.
Name the 4 types of Mass Movement.
Rockfall.
Landslide.
Mudflow.
Rotational slip.
Define Rockfall.
Fragments of rock break away from the cliff face, often due to freeze-thaw weathering.
Define Landslide.
Blocks of rock sliding downhill.
Define Mudflow.
Saturated soil and weak rock flows down a slope.
Define Rotational slip.
A slump of saturated soil and weak rock along a curved surface
Fetch
The distance of open water over which the wind can blow
Beach
A deposit of sand or shingle at the coast, often found at the head of a bay.
Crest
The top of a wave
Swash
The forward movement of a wave up the beach.
Backwash
The backward movement of water down a beach when a wave has broken.
Constructive wave
A powerful wave with a strong swash that surges up a beach.
Destructive wave
A wave formed by a local storm that crashes down onto a beach and has a powerful backwash.
Cliff
A steep or vertical face of rock often found at the coast.
Rockfall
Fragments of rock break away from the cliff face, often due to freeze-thaw weathering.
Landslide
Blocks of rock slide downhill
Mudflow
Saturated soil and weak rock flows down a slope.
Rotational Slip
Slump of saturated soil and weak rock along a curved surface.
Hydraulic Power
The sheer power of waves.
Corrasion
The effect of rocks being flung at the cliff by powerful waves.
Longshore Drift
The transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle.
Bay
A broad Coastal inlet often with a beach.
Headland
A point of usually high land jutting out into the sea.
Wave-cut platform
A wide gently sloping rocky surface at the foot of a cliff.
Wave-cut notch
A small indention (or notch) cut into a cliff by coastal erosion roughly at the level of high tide.
Cave
A hollowed-out feature at the base of an eroding cliff.
Arch
A headland that has been partly broken through by the sea to form a thin-roofed arch.
Stack
An isolated pinnacle of rock sticking out of the sea.
Spit
A finger of new land made of sand or shingle, jutting out into the sea from the coast.
Salt marsh
Low-lying coastal wetland mostly extending between high and low tide.
Bar
A spit that has grown across a bay.
Sliding
A type of Mass movement involving material moving downhill on a flat surface (a landslide)
Slumping
A type of mass movement involving material moving downhill under its own weight.
Landslip
A type of mass movement common at the coast involving material slipping downhill usually along a curved slip surface.
Shoreline Management Plan (SMP)
An integrated coastal management plan for a stretch of coastline in England and Wales.
Hard Engineering
Building artificial structures such as sea walls aimed at controlling natural processes.
Soft Engineering
A sustainable approach to managing the coast without using artificial structures.
Sea wall
Concrete or rock barrier built at the foot of cliffs or the top of a beach.
Groyne
Timber or rock structure built out to sea to trap sediment being moved by longshore drift.
Rock Armour
Piles of large boulders dumped at the foot of a cliff to protect it by forcing waves to break and absorbing their energy.
Managed Retreat
Allowing controlled flooding of low-lying coastal areas or cliff collapse in areas where the value of the land is low.
Pioneer plant
The first plant species to colonise an area that is well adapted to living in a harsh environment.
Sediment
Loose rock debris that has been weathered or eroded before being transported and then deposited.
Vegetation succession
A sequence of vegetation species colonising an environment.
