Geography GCSE Coasts || very Flawless.

Coastline correct answers The where the land meets the sea Fetch * correct answers The distance over which the wind can blow What does a large fetch cause? correct answers powerful waves What does a small fetch cause? correct answers less powerful waves Prevailing wind correct answers The direction the usual wind comes from What is the prevailing wind in the UK? correct answers In the UK, the prevailing wind is southwesterly, the wind blows, uninterrupted from central America across the Atlantic Ocean to the UK (approx. 3000 km) What does the prevailing wind cause in the UK? correct answers Waves along the southwest coast of England are powerful and destructive Crest * correct answers The top of a wave Trough correct answers The bottom of a wave Wave length correct answers The distance between two similar points (crest to crest/trough to trough Wave - structure and formation * correct answers The underwater current is usually in a circular motion, going towards the coastline. As the waves reach the land, the trough comes into contact with the seabed, causing friction, the base of the wave slows down causing the top to topple over (the underwater current becomes more elliptical). This causes a breaking wave Swash * correct answers The forward movement of a wave up a beach What controls the direction of swash? correct answers The prevailing wind Backwash * correct answers The backward movement of water down a beach when a wave has broken What controls the direction of backwash? correct answers Gravity (it is always at a right angle to the beach) Longshore drift * correct answers *The transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle OR The movement of sediment across the beach caused by the movement of swash and backwash (TRANSPORTATION FEATURE)