What is a coast?
A strip of land between the mainland and the sea.
What is a coastal landform?
An individual landform (spit, tombolo, wave cut platform etc).
What is a coastal landscape?
A large area comprising many landforms and their changes over time.
What is a coastal landscape system?
How the landscape can be interpreted through systems terminology and concepts.
Define input.
Energy or matter that enters a system.
Define output.
Something produced at the end of a system.
Define storage.
Areas where energy/matter is accumulated inside a system.
Define flow.
Movement of energy or matter within a system.
Define a boundary.
Outside/edge of a system.
Define processes.
Activities that transfer or transform energy or matter from store to store.
What is a system?
A group of interacting or interrelated entities that form a unified whole.
Define negative feedback.
An automatic response to change (disturbance) in a system that restores equilibrium.
What is dynamic equilibrium?
If the system is disturbed then it will adjust (self regulate) to the change and aim to
restore the balance - example of negative feedback.
Define positive feedback.
An automatic response to change in a system that generates further change.
What is an open system?
A type of system whose boundaries are open to both inputs and outputs of energy and
matter (sediment) e.g coastal landscapes.
What is a closed system?
A system that transfers energy both into and beyond the system boundary but NOT
transfer of matter.
What is a sediment cell?
A stretch of coastline within which sediment is largely self contained.
What two things are boundaries affected by?
1) The shape off the coastline
2) The presence of rivers (outwards flow of energy)
,What do large physical features act as?
Huge natural barriers that prevent the transfer of sediment to adjacent cells.
Where does the sediment come from? (3 places)
Terrestrial (including deposition from river discharge, cliff material from weathering,
erosion etc). Offshore (including marine deposition). Human (including beach
nourishment, dredging and mining)
Define sediment budget.
The balance of the sediment entering and exiting a particular section of the coast.
Define deficit.
When outputs are higher than inputs.
Define surplus.
When inputs are higher than outputs.
Give 3 examples of where sediment cells are.
River Humber
Flamborough Head
Holderness Cliffs
Define prevailing winds.
A wind from the direction that is predominant or most usual at a particular place or
season.
Define aeolian.
Referring to anything to do with the wind.
What 3 factors do the size and energy of the waves depend on?
1) The strength of the wind.
2) How long the wind has been blowing for.
3) The fetch - how far the wave has travelled.
How do you calculate the maximum wave height of a fetch?
H=0.36√F
Define fetch.
The distance of open water in one direction from a coastline, over which the wind can
blow.
What does the wind impact?
Marine processes (stronger wind, more destructive waves, more marine erosion)
Is the swash or backwash stronger in a constructive wave?
Swash
Is the swash or backwash stronger in a destructive wave?
Backwash
Which type of wave has a higher wave height?
Destructive (over 1 metre)
What is the wave steepness like in constructive and destructive waves?
Constructive - wave front is gently sloping.
, Destructive - steep wave front
Do destructive or constructive waves have a longer wavelength?
Constructive (8-10 waves per minute)
Which wave type has the highest frequency?
Destructive waves
As wind energy inputs increase, what kind of wave would you typically expect?
Destructive
What process would you expect from constructive waves?
Deposition
What processes would be associated with steep, destructive waves?
Erosion
What are tides?
The periodic fall and rise of the sea surface produced by the gravitational effect of the
moon, sun and centrifugal motion of earth's rotation.
How often do spring tides happen?
Twice a month
Higher tidal range, will cause more________________________(marine), so more
likely to get erosion (abrasion)
Kinetic energy
Low tide exposes shore to ________________________________(weathering etc),
so more likely to break down rock.
Subaerial processes
What do rip currents do to coastal sediment?
Transport the sediment
What are rip currents caused by?
Tidal motion or waves breaking at right angles to the shore.
What type of circulation is generated by differing wave heights?
Cellular circulation
Why does some water from breaking waves travel further up the beach?
They have a larger wave height.
Where does the water return to once it has broken?
It returns through the adjacent area.
What features do rip currents create on the shore profile?
Cusps
What are the 3 major rock types?
Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic
Define igneous rocks.
Rocks that are formed from the solidification of molten rock (magma or lava).
Define sedimentary rocks.
A strip of land between the mainland and the sea.
What is a coastal landform?
An individual landform (spit, tombolo, wave cut platform etc).
What is a coastal landscape?
A large area comprising many landforms and their changes over time.
What is a coastal landscape system?
How the landscape can be interpreted through systems terminology and concepts.
Define input.
Energy or matter that enters a system.
Define output.
Something produced at the end of a system.
Define storage.
Areas where energy/matter is accumulated inside a system.
Define flow.
Movement of energy or matter within a system.
Define a boundary.
Outside/edge of a system.
Define processes.
Activities that transfer or transform energy or matter from store to store.
What is a system?
A group of interacting or interrelated entities that form a unified whole.
Define negative feedback.
An automatic response to change (disturbance) in a system that restores equilibrium.
What is dynamic equilibrium?
If the system is disturbed then it will adjust (self regulate) to the change and aim to
restore the balance - example of negative feedback.
Define positive feedback.
An automatic response to change in a system that generates further change.
What is an open system?
A type of system whose boundaries are open to both inputs and outputs of energy and
matter (sediment) e.g coastal landscapes.
What is a closed system?
A system that transfers energy both into and beyond the system boundary but NOT
transfer of matter.
What is a sediment cell?
A stretch of coastline within which sediment is largely self contained.
What two things are boundaries affected by?
1) The shape off the coastline
2) The presence of rivers (outwards flow of energy)
,What do large physical features act as?
Huge natural barriers that prevent the transfer of sediment to adjacent cells.
Where does the sediment come from? (3 places)
Terrestrial (including deposition from river discharge, cliff material from weathering,
erosion etc). Offshore (including marine deposition). Human (including beach
nourishment, dredging and mining)
Define sediment budget.
The balance of the sediment entering and exiting a particular section of the coast.
Define deficit.
When outputs are higher than inputs.
Define surplus.
When inputs are higher than outputs.
Give 3 examples of where sediment cells are.
River Humber
Flamborough Head
Holderness Cliffs
Define prevailing winds.
A wind from the direction that is predominant or most usual at a particular place or
season.
Define aeolian.
Referring to anything to do with the wind.
What 3 factors do the size and energy of the waves depend on?
1) The strength of the wind.
2) How long the wind has been blowing for.
3) The fetch - how far the wave has travelled.
How do you calculate the maximum wave height of a fetch?
H=0.36√F
Define fetch.
The distance of open water in one direction from a coastline, over which the wind can
blow.
What does the wind impact?
Marine processes (stronger wind, more destructive waves, more marine erosion)
Is the swash or backwash stronger in a constructive wave?
Swash
Is the swash or backwash stronger in a destructive wave?
Backwash
Which type of wave has a higher wave height?
Destructive (over 1 metre)
What is the wave steepness like in constructive and destructive waves?
Constructive - wave front is gently sloping.
, Destructive - steep wave front
Do destructive or constructive waves have a longer wavelength?
Constructive (8-10 waves per minute)
Which wave type has the highest frequency?
Destructive waves
As wind energy inputs increase, what kind of wave would you typically expect?
Destructive
What process would you expect from constructive waves?
Deposition
What processes would be associated with steep, destructive waves?
Erosion
What are tides?
The periodic fall and rise of the sea surface produced by the gravitational effect of the
moon, sun and centrifugal motion of earth's rotation.
How often do spring tides happen?
Twice a month
Higher tidal range, will cause more________________________(marine), so more
likely to get erosion (abrasion)
Kinetic energy
Low tide exposes shore to ________________________________(weathering etc),
so more likely to break down rock.
Subaerial processes
What do rip currents do to coastal sediment?
Transport the sediment
What are rip currents caused by?
Tidal motion or waves breaking at right angles to the shore.
What type of circulation is generated by differing wave heights?
Cellular circulation
Why does some water from breaking waves travel further up the beach?
They have a larger wave height.
Where does the water return to once it has broken?
It returns through the adjacent area.
What features do rip currents create on the shore profile?
Cusps
What are the 3 major rock types?
Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic
Define igneous rocks.
Rocks that are formed from the solidification of molten rock (magma or lava).
Define sedimentary rocks.
