coasts

• How long is the UK coastline?

  12,429 km
• what's weathering?


  the breaking down of rocks into smaller pieces
• what are the three types of weathering?

  physical, chemical, biological
• what is a example of physical/mechanical weathering?


  freeze thaw
• what is a example of biological weathering?

  tree roots
• what is a example of chemical weathering?

  dissolving rocks
• what is mass movement?


  when an area of rock, soil or mud falls or slides downhill - often triggered by rainfall
• what are the three types of mass movement?

  sliding, falling, slumping
• What is erosion?


  removal of material from one place to another by wind or water
• what are the four types of erosion?

  hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition, solution
• What is hydraulic action?

  the waves hitting the cliff
• What is abrasion?


  waves throwing rocks at the cliff
• what is attrition?


  waves throwing rocks at other rocks
• what is solution?


  water dissolving rock
• what is transportation and deposition?


  material moved by the sea through transportation and is then deposited somewhere else
• what are the four types of transportation?

  Traction, Saltation, Suspension, Solution
• what is traction?


  rolling largest material
• what is saltation?


  bouncing medium material
• what is solution (transportation)?

  dissolvable rock is in solution
• what is suspension?


  carrying smallest material
• what is back shore?

  region of beach above the high water mark - does not usually get covered by seawater
• what is offshore?


  the area out to sea where sediment is not moved by the action of the waves - depth is more the 1/2 wavelength
• what is foreshore?


  The area between the high water mark and the low water mark most important zone for marine activity
• what is nearshore?


  area below the low water mark where sediment is still moved by the action of the waves
• what is a coastal landscape viewed as?

  a system
• what are the energy driving the inputs of the coastal system?

  kinetic energy, thermal energy, potential energy, gravitational energy
• where does the kinetic energy in a coastal system come from and what is a example?

  wind and waves - eg marine deposition
• where does the thermal energy in a coastal system come from and what is a example?

  heat from the sun - eg chemical weathering
• where does the potential energy in a coastal system come from and what is a example?

  position of material on slopes - eg mass movement and weathering
• where does the gravitational energy in a coastal system come from?

  tides
• what are the outputs of a coastal system?

  includes marine and wind erosion form beaches and rock surfaces, evaporation - eg currents, tides, sediment transfer, dredging
• what are the inputs of a coastal system?

  fluvial (river) sediment, material from cliff erosion and mass movement, material transported by ice, beach nourishment, destructive waves or tides depositing material
• what are the throughputs of a coastal system?

  consist of stores and flows (transfers and processes)
• what are the flows (transfers and processes) of a coastal system?

  erosion, transportation, mass movement, deposition, longshore drift, weathering
• what are the stores of a coastal system?

  sand dunes, offshore bars, cliffs, salt marshes, nearshore sediment, spits, beaches
• what are open coastal systems?

  open systems receive inputs of materials and energy from other systems outside of their boundaries and lose outputs of materials and energy to other systems
• what is a closed coastal system?

  closed systems receive no material inputs from outside of system but can receive energy from outside system - eg water cycle
• what are sediment cells?

  coasts operate on a range of spatial cells (cells within cells) and temporal scales - sediment moves within the cell but doesn't transfer from one sell to another so is considered a closed system
• what dod sediment cells consist of?

  stores - inputs and outputs are restricted to energy
• what are sediment cells in?


  dynamic equilibrium