The Coastal Zone Flashcards
Define “Fetch”
The distance the wave has travelled
What is a constructive wave?
- Strong swash week backwash
- More deposition than erosion
- Less than 10 waves per minute
What is a destructive wave?
- Weak swash strong backwash
- More erosion than deposition
- More than 12 waves a minute
What is Traction?
When larger rocks and boulders are rolled along the seabed
What is saltation?
When smaller rocks and stones a bounced in and out of current
What is suspension?
When fine particles float in the water carried by the current
What is solution?
Particles dissolved in water by acids in the sea
for example chalk or limestone
Four types of erosion?
- Hydraulic action
- Corrosion
- Corrasion
- Attrition
Formation of headlands and bays (3)
- Harder rock and softer rock (chalk, clay)
- Soft rock eroded more
- Deposition in bays
Formation of a wave cut platform (5)
- Weakness in cliff base -> erosion
- = wave cut notch
- Overhanging cliff collapses
- Rock debris eroded by attrition
- Cliff retreats and rock pools at low tide
Formation of arches stacks and stumps (5)
- Weaknesses and cracks in cliff
- Erosion enlarges cracks into caves
- All round erosion of cave equals arch
- Base of arch eroded -> top collapses -> stack
- Undercutting of stack -> stump
Weathering
- Chemical (solution) and (carbonating)
- Mechanical
- Biological
Chemical weathering (2)
Solution:
When rocks dissolve in rainwater
Carbonation:
Limestone and chalk dissolved by acid rain
Mechanical weathering (2)
Freeze Thaw:
Water expands when frozen
Onion Peel:
When outer layers expand and contract and weaken
Biological weathering
Tree roots or burrowing animals
How is a wave formed? (3)
- Wind blows over surface
- Friction with sea bed causes top to move faster than bottom
- Wave begins to break
Mass movement (4)
- Rockfall
- Landslide
- Mudflow
- Rotational Slumping (Barton on Sea)
Sea wall (hard)
A concrete barrier at the top of the beach which reflects wave energy