Coastal Landscapes and Processes

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to coastal landscapes and processes.

Constructive Waves

Waves that have a strong swash, weak backwash, low wave height, large wavelength, and low frequency, leading to deposition of materials on beaches.

Destructive Waves

Waves characterized by strong backwash, weak swash, high wave height, small wavelength, and high frequency, resulting in erosion of beaches and coastal features.

Fetch

The distance traveled by waves before reaching the coast, influencing the size and energy of the waves.

Erosion

The process of removal and destruction of rocks and sand along the coastline, leading to the formation of various coastal features.

Attrition

The process where rocks and pebbles collide with each other in wave action, becoming smaller and more rounded over time.

Hydraulic Action

A form of coastal erosion where waves crash against rocks and cliffs, forcing air into cracks and causing the rocks to fracture.

Chemical Weathering

The breakdown of rocks through chemical reactions, commonly involving acid rain reacting with minerals in the rocks.

Longshore Drift

The process of sediment movement along the coast caused by waves hitting the beach at an angle, followed by gravity pulling the sediment back down the slope.

Spit

A long, narrow strip of land formed by deposition, created when waves lose energy and sediment is left behind.

Sand Dunes

Natural landforms created when wind blows sediment to the back of the beach, leading to the formation of various types of dunes based on their development stage.

Managed Retreat

A coastal management strategy that allows natural erosion to occur while monitoring the rate and implementing future adaptation measures.

Mass Movement

The downslope movement of soil and rock due to gravity, influenced by factors like water saturation and slope steepness.

Corrosion

Also known as solution, this process involves the erosion of rocks by mildly acidic seawater.

Corrasion

Erosion caused by sand and pebbles hurled against cliffs by wave action, leading to the physical breakdown of the rock face.

Beach Nourishment

A soft engineering method involving the addition of sand to a beach to replenish eroded areas and maintain its recreational value.

Sea Walls

Hard engineering structures designed to absorb and reflect wave energy to prevent coastal erosion.

Groynes

structures built perpendicular to the shore aimed at trapping sand on the beach to combat erosion from longshore drift.

Wave-Cut Notch

An indentation formed at the base of a cliff due to wave erosion, which can lead to the collapse of the cliff face.

Caves, Arches, Stacks & Stumps

Coastal landforms created through a sequence of marine erosion processes on headlands.

Berms

Ridges formed at the beach where high tide deposits materials such as sand and seaweed.