UK landscapes content

• The UK Physical Landscape

  • Large Upland and Lowland Areas
  • Important Rivers
• UK's main upland areas


  • In the north and west
  • Formed of hard, igneous and metamorphic rocks
  • Resistant to erosion
• UK's main lowland areas


  • In the south and east
  • Formed of softer, sedimentary rocks
  • Erode more easily
• Cities in the UK

  • London (on the Thames)
  • Liverpool (on the Mersey)
  • Cardiff (on the Severn Estuary)
• River Clyde


  • Wide lower valley
  • Flood plain
  • Glasgow situated on the flat ground of the flood plain
• Grampian Mountains


  • Part of the Highlands
  • Home to Ben Nevis (highest mountain in the UK)
  • Steep, rocky and sparsely populated
• Lake District


  • National park
  • Upland area
  • Lots of glacial features
• Snowdonia


  • Glaciated upland area
  • Formed from rock from an extinct volcano
  • Steep mountains, such as Snowdon
  • Glaciated valleys
• Holderness Coast


  • Made mainly of soft boulder clay
  • Cliffs eroding quickly
  • Allows landforms such as the Spurn Head spit to form
• Dorset Coast


  • Bands of hard and soft rock
  • Leads to landforms such as stacks, arches and spits
• The Fens


  • Marshy, flat, low-lying area
  • Used to be larger but a lot of land has been drained for farming
• Weathering


  The breakdown of rocks in situ (where they are)
• Erosion


  When rocks are broken down and carried away by something, e.g. by seawater
• Types of rock breakdown

  • Mechanical weathering
  • Chemical weathering
• Mechanical weathering

  • The breakdown of rock without changing its chemical composition
• Freeze-thaw weathering


  1. Water enters rock that has cracks

  2. Water freezes and expands, putting pressure on the rock

  3. Water thaws and contracts, releasing pressure on the rock

  4. Repeated freezing and thawing widens the cracks and causes the rock to break up
• Chemical weathering


  • The breakdown of rock by changing its chemical composition
• Carbonation weathering


  1. Rainwater has carbon dioxide dissolved in it, making it a weak carbonic acid

  2. Carbonic acid reacts with rock that contains calcium carbonate, dissolving the rocks
• Mass movement


  The shifting of rocks and loose material down a slope
• Mass movement


  1. The force of gravity acting on a slope is greater than the force supporting it

  2. More likely to happen when the material is full of water, which acts as a lubricant and makes the material heavier

  3. Can create a scarp (a steep 'cut' in the side of the slope)
• Types of mass movement

  • landSlides
  • Rockfall
  • Slumps
• Waves


  Created when wind blows over the surface of the sea
• Destructive waves


  • High frequency, high and steep
  • Backwash (water moving down the beach) is more powerful than the swash (water moving up the beach), so material is removed
• Constructive waves


  • Low frequency, low and long
  • Swash is more powerful than the backwash, so material is deposited
• Fetch


  The distance the wind blows over the sea, the more powerful the wave
• Storms can create storm surges - temporary sea level rises caused as strong winds push water onshore
• Coastal Processes


  Waves Wear Away the Coast Using Three Processes of Erosion
• Erosion occurs when waves hit the shore


  1. Hydraulic power-waves crash against rock and compress the air in the cracks. This puts pressure on the rock. Repeated compression widens the cracks and causes bits of rock to break off.

  2. Abrasion-eroded particles in the water scrape and rub against rock, removing small pieces.

  3. Attrition-eroded particles in the water collide, break into smaller pieces and become more rounded.
• Material is Transported Along the Coast by Longshore Drift


  1. Waves follow the direction of the prevailing (most common) wind.

  2. They usually hit the coast at an oblique angle (any angle that isn't a right angle).

  3. The swash carries material up the beach, in the same direction as the waves.

  4. The backwash then carries material down the beach at right angles, back towards the sea.

  5. Over time, material zigzags along the coast.
• Other Processes of Transportation

  • Traction-large particles like boulders are pushed along the seabed by the force of the water.
  • Saltation-pebble-sized particles are bounced along the seabed by the force of the water.
  • Suspension-small particles like silt and clay are carried along in the water.
  • Solution-soluble materials (eg, limestone) dissolve in the water and are carried along
• Deposition

  1. Deposition occurs when water carrying sediment loses energy and slows down

  2. Coasts build up when the amount of deposition is greater than the amount of erosion

  3. The amount of material that's deposited on an area of coast is increased when there's lots of erosion elsewhere on the coast (so more material is available), lots of material is transported into the area, and constructive waves drop more material than they remove (there's more deposition than erosion)
• Coastlines

  • Can be Concordant or Discordant
• Rock type and geological structure

  • Influence the erosional landforms that develop on a coastline
  • Hard rocks like granite take a long time to erode, while softer rocks like sandstone erode more
  • Rocks with lots of joints and faults (cracks and weaknesses in the rock) erode faster
• Discordant coastlines are made up of alternating bands of hard and soft rock at right angles to the coast
• On a concordant coastline, the alternating bands of hard and soft rock are parallel to the coast
• Headlands and bays form along discordant coastlines


  1. Less resistant rock is eroded faster forming a bay with a gentle slope

  2. Resistant rock erodes more slowly and juts out, forming a headland with steep sides
• Erosion of headlands to form caves, arches and stacks

  1. Waves crash into headlands and enlarge cracks

  2. Repeated erosion and enlargement of cracks causes a cave to form

  3. Continued erosion deepens the cave until it breaks through the headland to form an arch

  4. Erosion continues to wear away the rock supporting the arch, until it eventually collapses forming a stack
• Waves erode cliffs to form wave-cut platforms


  1. Waves cause most erosion at the foot of a cliff, forming a wave-cut notch

  2. Repeated erosion causes the rock above the notch to become unstable and it eventually collapses

  3. The collapsed material is washed away and a new wave cut notch starts to form

  4. After repeated collapses the cliff retreats leaving a wave cut platform
• Headlands and stacks


  • Durdle Door, Dorset
• Wave-cut platforms


  • Southerndown, South Wales