The UK’s evolving physical landscape

Flashcards of key vocabulary from the UK's evolving physical landscape lecture notes.

Abrasion

The scratching and scraping of a river bed and banks by the stones and sand in a river.

Alluvium

All deposits laid down by rivers, especially in times of flood.

Antecedent rainfall

The amount of moisture already in the ground before a rainstorm.

Anticline

A dome of folded rocks forming an arch.

Arch

A curved passage through a headland created when a cave which was eventually broken through by erosion.

Attrition

The wearing away of particles of debris by the action of other particles, such as river or beach pebbles.

Backwash

The flow of water back to the sea after waves break on a beach.

Bankful

The discharge or contents of a river which is just contained within its banks. This is when the speed, or velocity, of the river is at its greatest.

Bar

An accumulation of sediment that grows across the mouth of a bay, caused by longshore drift.

Beach

An area of sand or pebbles along the shore of a body of water.

Beach profile

The shape of a beach resulting from how waves break.

Berm

Deposited sand formation

Carbon dating

Uses radioactive testing to find the age of rocks which contained living material

Carboniferous period

A geological period of time, 250 to 350 million years ago

Cave

A large hole, either underground or in the side of a hill or cliff, often created when waves force their way into cracks in the cliff face

Channel

The bed and banks of a river

Concordant coasts

Follow the ridges and valleys of the land, so the rock strata is parallel to the coastline

Constructive waves

Build beaches by pushing sand and pebbles further up the beach

Cost-benefit analysis

Looking at all the costs of a project, social and environmental as well as economic, and deciding whether it is worth going ahead

Cove

A sheltered area

Cross profile

Shows a cross section of a river’s channel and valley at certain points in the river’s course

Cross section

A view or drawing that shows what the inside of something looks like after a cut has been made across it

Delta

A low-lying area at the mouth of a river where a river deposits so much sediment it extends beyond the coastline

Destructive waves

Waves which erode beaches

Dip slope

A gentle slope following the angle of rock strata, found behind escarpments

Discharge

The volume of water flowing in a river, measured in cubic metres per second

Discordant coasts

Alternate between bands of hard rocks and soft rocks, so the rock strata is at right angles to the coast

Dissipate

Means to reduce wave energy, which is absorbed as waves pass through, or over, sea defences

Dredging

Digging out drainage ditches and rivers to make them artificially deeper

Dry valleys

Valleys where rivers once flowed

Erosion

Wearing away the landscape

Escarpment

Continuous line of steep slopes above a gentle dip slope, caused by the erosion of alternate strata

Estuary

Where a river meets the sea

Evaporation

The changing of a liquid into vapour or gas. Some rainfall is evaporated into water vapour by the heat of the sun

Eyot

A small island in a river

Fault scarp

When faults form a steep edge

Faults

Large cracks caused by past tectonic movements

Fetch

The length of water over which the wind has blown, affecting the size and strength of waves

Flood plain

Flat land around a river that gets flooded when the river overflows

Friction

The force which resists the movement of one surface over another

Glaciated

Formed or once covered by glaciers or ice sheets

Gorge

A steep valley

Gradient

Slope

Groundwater flow

Movement of water through rocks in the ground

Groynes

Wooden or stone structures built at right angles to the coast to trap sediment from longshore drift, allowing a beach to build up

Hard engineering

Building physical structures to deal with natural hazards, such as sea walls to stop waves

Helicoidal flow

A continuous corkscrew motion of water as it flows along a river channel

Holistic (coastal management)

Takes into account all social, economic and environmental costs and benefits. This means looking at the coastline as a whole instead of an individual bay or beach

Hydraulic action

The force of water along the coast, or within a stream or river

Hydrograph

A graph showing the amount of water in a place at different times