coasts

Cards (19)

  • Waves
    Caused by the wind dragging over the surface of the water
  • Fetch
    The length of water the wind blows over
  • Stronger wind and longer duration

    Longer fetch and larger waves
  • Swash
    When waves move up towards the coastline
  • Backwash
    When waves move back down into the sea
  • Constructive wave

    Has more swash than backwash, building up the beach and depositing material
  • Destructive wave

    Has more backwash than swash, destroying the beach and eroding material
  • Processes of coastal erosion
    • Hydraulic action
    • Abrasion
    • Attrition
    • Solution
  • Headland
    • Hard resistant rock like limestone or granite sticking out into the sea
  • Bay
    • Area of softer rock that has been eroded more easily
  • Wave cut platform formation
    1. Wave cut notch forms at base of cliff
    2. Land on top becomes unstable and collapses
    3. Wave cut platform is formed
  • Arch, stack and stump formation
    1. Wave action creates fault line in hard rock
    2. Cave forms and eventually arch forms
    3. Arch collapses leaving stack
    4. Bottom of stack erodes leaving stump
  • Longshore drift
    Waves come into coastline at angle of prevailing wind, swash at 30 degrees, backwash at 90 degrees, moving material along beach
  • Spit
    • Deposition of material at end of coastline, forming new land
  • Tombolo
    • Longshore drift joins mainland to an island
  • Hard engineering methods
    • Sea walls
    • Rock groynes
    • Breakwaters
    • Revetments
    • Rock armour
    • Wooden groynes
  • Hard engineering

    Expensive, intrusive on natural environment, may impact tourism
  • Soft engineering
    Less effective but works with natural environment
  • Doing nothing is a natural process, but interventions in one place may cause problems elsewhere