Why are coastal landscapes different and what processes cause these differences?

Question 1

What is the littoral zone?

Answer 1

The boundary between land and sea which stretches out into the sea and onto the shore

Question 2

What are the sub zones of the littoral zone?

Answer 2

coast
backshore
foreshore
nearshore
offshore

Question 3

Two main types of coasts

Answer 3

• rocky (or cliffed) coastlines with cliffs varying in height from a few meters to hundreds of meters
• coastal plains (with no cliffs) where the land gently slopes towards the sea across an area of deposited sediment, often in the form of sand dunes and mud flats

Question 4

primary coasts

Answer 4

dominated by land- based processes, such as deposition at the coast from rivers or new coastal land formed from lava flows

Question 5

secondary coasts

Answer 5

dominated by marine erosion or deposition processes

Question 6

emergent coasts

Answer 6

where the coast is rising relative to sea level, for example as a result of tectonic uplift

Question 7

submergent coasts

Answer 7

are being flooded by the sea either because of sea level rise and/ or subsiding land

Question 8

low wave energy

Answer 8

sheltered coasts with limited fetch and low wind speeds resulting in small waves

Question 9

high energy waves

Answer 9

exposed coasts with limited fetch and low wind speeds resulting in small waves

Question 10

what are subaerial processes?

Answer 10

the processes of weathering and mass movement

Question 11

long and short term ways to classify coasts

Answer 11

long term

• geology
• sea level rise/ change

short term

• wave energy
• wave type

Question 12

describe the geology across the UK

Answer 12

• eastern and southern coasts consist of weaker and younger sedimentary rock e.g chalk
  mud flats, beaches etc
• above the tees and exe line is harder igneous and metamorphic rock
  cliffs and rough landscapes

Question 13

What is accretion?

Answer 13

it refers to the deposition of sediment at a coast that expands the area of land

Question 14

strata

Answer 14

the different layers of rock exposed in a cliff

Question 15

deformation

Answer 15

tilting and folding by tectonic activity

Question 16

faulting

Answer 16

major fractures that have moved rocks from their original positions

Question 17

concordant/ pacific coasts

Answer 17

when rock strata run parallel to the coastline

Question 18

discordant/ atlantic coasts

Answer 18

when different rock strata intersect the coast at an angle, so rock varies along the coastline

Question 19

what is a dip?

Answer 19

this refers to the angle at each rock strata lie

Question 20

joints

Answer 20

(vertical cracks) fractures caused either by contraction as sediments dry out, or by earth movements during uplift

Question 21

example of concordant coastline

Answer 21

Lulworth cove

Question 22

Dalmatian coastline

Answer 22

• concordant coastline
• formed as a result of a rise in sea level
• when the valleys flooded because of this rise, the tops of the ridges remained above the surface of the sea - as a series of offshore islands that run parallel to the coast
  e. g Croatia

Question 23

Haff coastlines

Answer 23

• concordant coastline
• long spits of sand and lagoons aligned parallel to the coast
  e. g southern shore of the Basaltic sea - lagoons enclosed by sand spits or dunes

Question 24

examples of sedimentary rock

Answer 24

sandstone
limestone
shale

Question 25

examples of igneous rock

Answer 25

granite
basalt
dolerite

Question 26

examples of metamorphic rock

Answer 26

slate
schist
marble