Distinctive landscapes

• Landscape


  Visible features that make up the surface of the land
• Landscape elements


  • Physical
  • Biological
  • Human
  • Variable
• Physical landscape elements


  • Mountains
  • Coastlines
  • Rivers

  
• Biological landscape elements


  • Vegetation
  • Habitats
  • Wildlife
• Human landscape elements


  • Buildings
  • Infrastructure
  • Structures
• Variable landscape elements


  • Weather
  • Smells
  • Sounds/Sights
• Uplands


  High areas of land
• Lowlands


  Low areas of land
• Over many thousands of years, glaciation has made an impression on the UK's landscape
• During the ice age, ice covered areas eroded and weathered landscapes to create dramatic mountain scenery
• After the ice age, deep valleys and deposition of sediment revealed the geology of the UK
• Types of rock in the UK

  • Igneous
  • Sedimentary
  • Metamorphic
• Igneous rock


  Volcanic/molten rock brought up to the Earth's surface and cooled into solid rock
• Sedimentary rock


  Made from broken fragments of rock worn down by weathering on Earth's surface
• Metamorphic rock


  Rock that is folded and distorted by heat and pressure
• Soils are created from weathered rocks, organic material and water
• Rock types have influence over fertility of soil
• Low-laying areas such as the Cambridgeshire Fens have deep soil whereas uplands have thin soil
• Deep soil is more often associated with deciduous woodland rather than coniferous woodlands
• The rainfall map of the UK shows variations in average rain

  
• Less precipitation occurs in low land areas, East England
• Most precipitation occurs in upland areas, Scotland

  
• Uplands experience more weathering, erosion and mass movement
• Types of weathering


  • Mechanical
  • Chemical
  • Biological
• Freeze-thaw weathering


  1. Water seeps into cracks and fractures in the rock

  2. When the water freezes, it expands about 9% which wedges apart the rock

  3. With repeated freeze-thaw cycles, the rock breaks off
• Farming has changed the vegetation which grows there
• Much of the rural landscape has been replaced by urban sprawls
• Infrastructure such as roads and pylons cover most of the UK
• Over thousands of years, much of the UK's woodlands have gone
• Increasing population of the UK means more houses are needed
• UK's marshes and moorlands are heavily managed by people
• Areas over 600m have peaks and ridges that are cold, misty and have common snow, like in Scotland
• Areas under 200m have flat or rolling hills and warmer weather, like the Fens
• Types of erosion


  • Attrition
  • Solution
  • Abrasion
  • Hydraulic action
• Types of transportation


  • Solution
  • Suspension
  • Saltation
  • Traction
• Mass movement


  1. Rain saturates the permeable rock above the impermeable rock making it heavy

  2. Waves or a river will erode the base of the slope making it unstable

  3. Eventually the weight of the permeable rock above the impermeable rock weakens and collapses

  4. The debris at the base of the cliff is then removed and transported by waves or river
• Formation of coastal stacks

  1. Hydraulic action widens cracks in the cliff face over time

  2. Abrasion forms a wave cut notch between high tide and low tide

  3. Further abrasion widens the wave cut notch to form a cave

  4. Caves from both sides of the headland break through to form an arch

  5. Weather above/erosion below - arch collapses leaving stack

  6. Further weathering and erosion leaves a stump
• Formation of bays and headlands

  1. Waves attack the coastline

  2. Softer rock is eroded by the sea quicker forming a bay, calm area causes deposition

  3. More resistant rock is left jutting out into the sea, this is a headland and is now more vulnerable to erosion
• Formation of coastal spits


  1. Swash moves up the beach at the angle of the prevailing wind

  2. Backwash moves down the beach at 90° to coastline, due to gravity

  3. Zigzag movement (Longshore Drift) transports material along beach

  4. Deposition causes beach to extend, until reaching a river estuary

  5. Change in prevailing wind direction forms a hook

  6. Sheltered area behind spit encourages deposition, salt marsh forms
• Hard engineering coastal defences

  • Groynes
  • Sea walls
  • Gabions or rip rap