Coastal Features & Earth Processes

A collection of vocabulary flashcards covering key coastal features and earth processes.

Delta

A low, flat landform created where a river deposits sediment as it enters a larger, still body of water.

Importance of Deltas

They provide rich nutrients, support diverse plant and animal life, and help filter pollutants from water.

Rocky Shore

A coastal area dominated by rocks, often steep, where waves crash directly onto the land.

Unique Organisms on Rocky Shores

They are adapted to survive strong wave action, temperature changes, and varying salinity.

Muddy Shores

Form in sheltered coastal areas where fine sediments settle due to slow-moving water.

Oxygen Levels in Muddy Shores

Thick, compact mud and lots of organic material reduce oxygen levels, making it hard for some life forms.

Sandy Shores

Made of loose sand and shaped by wind and waves through erosion and deposition.

Life on Sandy Shores

Organisms burrow for protection; animals like crabs, worms, and mollusks are common.

Estuary

An area where freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from the ocean, creating brackish water.

Nurseries of the Sea

Estuaries provide shelter and nutrients for young fish and marine life to grow safely.

Intertidal Zones

Coastal areas exposed to air at low tide and underwater at high tide, divided into various zones.

Challenges in Intertidal Zones

Organisms face exposure to air, changing salinity, waves, and predators.

Mechanical Weathering

The physical breakdown of rocks without altering their chemical composition.

Chemical Weathering

The process where rock composition is altered through chemical reactions.

Examples of Chemical Weathering

Oxidation, carbonation, and hydrolysis.

Examples of Physical Weathering

Frost wedging, thermal expansion, root growth, and abrasion.

Erosion

Natural forces like water, wind, ice, and gravity move rock and soil from one place to another.

Weathering vs Erosion

Weathering breaks down rocks; erosion moves the broken particles.

Sedimentation

The process of particles settling at the bottom of a liquid.

Deposition vs Erosion

Deposition places materials in new locations; erosion is the process of moving them.

How does water speed influence the size of sediments that are deposited

Fast-moving water can carry larger sediments like gravel and pebbles, while slow-moving water deposits smaller particles like silt and clay.

What is biological weathering?.

Weathering caused by living organisms, such as roots growing into rocks or animals digging and breaking apart soil and rock.

How does water cause erosion?

Water erodes land by carrying away soil and rock through rainfall, rivers, waves, and floods.

What landforms are shaped by water erosion?

Valleys, canyons, riverbanks, and coastlines.

What is glacial erosion?

Erosion caused by glaciers dragging rocks across land, scraping and shaping the earth.

What features are formed by glacial erosion?

U-shaped valleys, fjords, and moraines.