Distinctive Landscapes

• Backwash


  The movement of water down the beach.
• constructive wave


  Waves which help build up material on the beach. They tend to have a low frequency and strong swash.
• Deposition


  When material is deposited or left behind, eg when a river loses its energy and is unable to carry its load any further.
• Destructive wave


  Waves which remove material from the beach. The swash is weaker than the backwash.
• Fetch


  How far a wave has travelled.
• freeze-thaw weathering


  When water in rocks freezes and expands, breaking the rock apart.
• longshore drift


  The movement of material along a coastline due to the angled approach of waves.
• mass movement


  A large-scale downward movement of rocks and material.
• permeable rock


  A type of rock which allows water to pass through its joints and cracks, eg limestone.
• porous rock


  A rock with minute air spaces between the minerals.
• Sediment


  Small fragments of rock and soil that form layers.
• Swash


  The water flowing towards a beach when a wave breaks.
• Abrasion


  When rocks carried by the sea water wear away the landscape, eg cliff face/headland.
• Arch


  A natural rock formation often created by two sea caves eroding backwards towards each other until the back walls disappear.
• Attrition


  The wearing down of the load as the rocks and pebbles hit the sea bed and each other, breaking into smaller and more rounded pieces.
• Backwash


  The movement of water down the beach.
• Bar


  A spit that has grown across a bay.
• Bay


  A low-lying inlet of land on the coast.
• Cave


  Recess in a cliff where waves have enlarged a crack in the rock face.
• constructive wave


  Waves which help build up material on the beach. They tend to have a low frequency and strong swash.
• Deposition


  When material is deposited or left behind, eg when a river loses its energy and is unable to carry its load any further.
• Erosion


  The wearing away of pieces of rock, soil or other solid materials.
• Headland


  A high area of land that extends out into the sea.
• hydraulic action


  Erosion caused by the force of river water hitting cracks in the side of the river bank. The air in the cracks becomes compressed and then explodes outwards, breaking off bits of rock.
• Lagoon


  A shallow area of water separated from the sea by a bar or spit.
• Silt


  Fertile sand-sized particles found in the lower course of a river. Also known as alluvium.
• Spit


  A stretch of beach at one end of a coastline caused by waves depositing material.
• Stack


  A pillar of rock left standing in the sea when the top of an arch has collapsed.
• Stump


  The remains of a stack which the sea has eroded away.
• Swash


  The water flowing towards a beach when a wave breaks.
• wave-cut notch


  An area of erosion at the base of a cliff formed by the waves.
• wave-cut platform


  A flat area in front of a cliff, just below the low tide mark. These were formed when the waves eroded the cliff, but left a flat platform behind.
• Weathering


  The breaking down of rocks in situ by the action of weather, plants, animals and chemical processes.
• Erosion


  The wearing away of pieces of rock, soil or other solid materials.
• Fetch


  How far a wave has travelled.
• Groyne


  Wooden or rock structures built out at right angles into the sea.
• hard engineering


  The use of man-made structures to control the coast.
• longshore drift


  The movement of material along a coastline due to the angled approach of waves.
• managed retreat


  The controlled flooding of low-lying coastal areas.
• marram grass


  A long type of grass found growing on coastal sand dunes.