Physical Landscapes in the UK

• Abrasion : A form of erosion where loose material and sediment ‘sandpapers’ the walls and floors of the river, cliff or glacier.
• Biological Weathering : Rocks are broken apart by vegetation and roots, or chemical reactions from animal faeces erodes the rock face.
• Fetch : The length of water over which the wind has travelled.
• Estuary : The point at where the river meets an ocean, often muddy or silty. Sometimes estuaries become exposed at low tide or hazardous to traverse in a boat due to sandbanks.
• Attrition : Rocks bang against each other chipping away to make smaller, smoother rocks.
• Beach Nourishment : The addition of sand and sediment to an eroding beach by humans. The new material will be eroded by the sea which saves the cliffs or sand dunes from erosion and recession.
• Corrasion : A form of mechanical erosion where material and sediment in the sea is flung at the cliff-face as waves break against it, this breaks up the rocks making up the cliff.
• Chemical Weathering : Where the weak acid in rainwater dissolves chemical compounds in the rock.
• Floodplain Zoning : Controlling where houses and buildings are built relative to the river to reduce their risk of flooding.
• Drainage Basin : The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
• Dredging : Rubbish and sediment are dug up from the bottom of the river.
• Geology : The physical structure and arrangement of a rock.
• Groyne : A form of hard-engineering. Low-lying concrete or wooden walls, constructed perpendicular to the seafront and run out to sea. They encourage the trapping of sediment to reduce erosion caused by longshore drift or by winds.
• Highlands : An area of land that is at a high elevation and tends to have a larger relief.
• Hydraulic Action : The pressure of compressed air forced into cracks in a rock face will cause the rock to weaken and break apart.
• Impermeable : A rock that does not allow water to pass through it.
• Lowlands : An area of land that has a small relief, so tends to be flat and at a low elevation.
• Levee : The banks of the river.
• Longshore Drift : The transportation of sediment along a beach. This is determined by the direction of the prevailing wind.
• Mechanical Weathering : Sometimes called physical weathering, this is the breakdown of rocks due to forces, not chemical reactions.
• Mass Movement : Where there is a large downhill movement of material usually from a cliff-face. Here, the rock is often weak due to erosion and the movement is caused by gravity.
• Relief : The difference in the height of land for a particular region. A large relief means a region has a large difference between the lowest and highest points.
• Saltation : A form of transportation where smaller sediment bounces along the sea bed pushed by currents. This sediment is too heavy to be picked up by the flow of the water.
• Rock Armour : Large rocks or concrete blocks, used as barricades to reduce marine erosion at the base of cliffs.
• Sand Dune : A depositional landform, where sand and sediment build up around driftwood and accumulate over time.
• Sea Wall : A hard-management coastal defense, where a concrete wall is built parallel to the seafront, to redirect the energy of waves away from sensitive cliffs or the edge of a coastal town.
• Soft Management : The use of natural materials and environmentally sustainable approaches to reduce coastal recession. Includes: Beach Nourishment, Managed Retreat, Sand Dune Encouragement.
• Solution : Acidic water dissolves chemicals from a rock face into the water. These chemicals can then be transported as chemical compounds in the water.
• Storm Hydrograph : A graph to show the variation of river discharge over a short period of time (days).
• Suspension : Small rocks that are light enough to float are carried in the water, rather than along the bed.
• Spit : A long depositional landform, formed from sand and shingle.
• Traction : Large rocks and boulders are rolled along the bed of the river or sea.
• Backshore : The upper beach closest to the land, including any cliffs or sand dunes.