AQA A-Level Geography: Coastal Systems and Landscapes Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering coastal systems, wave types, erosional/depositional processes, sea level changes, and management strategies based on the AQA A-Level Geography curriculum.

Landform

Individual physical features, such as cliffs, beaches, or dunes, formed by processes including erosion, deposition, and weathering.

Open system

A system that exchanges both energy and matter with its surroundings, exemplified by coastal systems.

Closed system

A system that exchanges energy but not matter with its surroundings, such as the global water cycle.

Inputs

Elements entering a system, such as sediment or energy from waves.

Outputs

Elements leaving a system, such as sediment transported away by currents.

Positive feedback

A mechanism that enhances or amplifies changes, leading to instability, such as groynes causing sediment starvation and increased erosion downdrift.

Negative feedback

A mechanism that returns a system toward stability and equilibrium, such as cliff collapse providing material that protects the base from further erosion.

Tidal range

The difference in height between high tide and low tide.

Tidal currents

The horizontal flow of water associated with the rise and fall of the tide.

Rip currents

Powerful, fast-moving channels of water that pull away from the shore, caused by waves breaking and pushing water toward the beach.

Spring tides

Tides with the greatest tidal range, occurring during full and new moon phases when the sun, moon, and Earth are aligned.

Neap tides

Tides with the smallest tidal range, occurring when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other relative to Earth.

Fetch

The distance of open water over which the wind blows to generate waves; a longer fetch results in more powerful waves.

Constructive waves

Waves that build up beaches with a weak backwash and strong swash, characterized by low frequency ($6-9$ waves per minute) and long wavelengths.

Destructive waves

High-energy waves that erode coastlines with a strong backwash, characterized by high frequency ($10-15$ waves per minute) and short wavelengths.

Hydraulic action

The force of water hitting the coast and compressing air into cracks, causing rock to break apart.

Abrasion

The process of waves carrying sediment and grinding it against the coast, wearing the surface down.

Attrition

An erosional process where sediment particles collide and break into smaller, smoother pieces.

Wave quarrying

The process where powerful waves exert immense pressure on rocks, forcing air and water into crevices to fracture and dislodge pieces.

Longshore drift

The zig-zag movement of sediment along a coast caused by swash approaching at an angle and backwash returning at a right angle.

Traction

A transportation process where larger particles are rolled along the seabed.

Saltation

A transportation process where sand particles move in a series of bounces.

Freeze-thaw

A form of mechanical weathering where water enters rock cracks, freezes, expands, and eventually causes the rock to break.

Exfoliation (onion skin)

Mechanical weathering caused by the expansion and contraction of rock layers due to heating and cooling, leading to peeling.

Carbonation

Chemical weathering where acidic rainwater reacts with calcium carbonate in rocks like limestone to dissolve them.

Rotational slumping

A mass movement process on saturated clay cliffs, such as at Mappleton, where material slides down a curved slip plane.

Sediment cell

A distinct, largely self-contained area of the coastline where sediment movement is managed; there are $11$ major cells in the UK.

Eustatic change

A global change in sea level caused by alterations in the volume of water in the oceans, such as through thermal expansion or melting ice.

Isostatic change

A local sea level change caused by the rise or fall of the land, such as isostatic rebound following the melting of ice sheets.

Ria

A drowned river valley formed by eustatic sea level rise, creating a dendritic, V-shaped inlet.

Fjord

A deep, narrow inlet formed by the submergence of a glacially carved U-shaped valley.

Dalmatian coast

A coastline formed by the flooding of valleys that run parallel to the shore, creating a series of long, narrow islands.

Terminal Groyne Syndrome (TGS)

The increased erosion of the coastline further down from where a groyne has been built, due to the interruption of longshore drift.

Managed retreat

A soft engineering strategy that allows certain areas to flood naturally, often creating saltmarshes to act as natural barriers.

Geotextile sand tubes

A hard engineering method used in Pentha, Odisha, where sand-filled tubes act as flexible barriers against wave action.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

A holistic approach to coastal management that coordinates multiple sectors and stakeholders to achieve sustainable development.