Physical Landscapes in the UK Coasts

Fetch

Distance of open water over which the wind can blow

Crest

The top of a wave

Swash

The forward movement of a wave up a beach

Backwash

The backward movement of water back down the beach when a wave has broken

Constructive wave

A powerful wave with strong swach that surges up a beach. These build up beaches

Destructive wave

A wave that crashes down onto a beach and has a powerful backwash. These erode beaches

Weathering

The disintegration or decay of rocks in their original place

Mechanical weathering

Also know as physical weathering, this involves the break up of rocks without any chemical changes happening e.g .freeze thaw or exfoliation.

Chemical weathering

Chemical changes break up the rock

Freeze thaw weathering

Or frost shattering is when water freezes and thaws in a crack. As the water freezes it expands cracking the rock.

Exfoliation

Flaking of the outer surface of rocks mainly caused by repeated cycles of hot and cold.

Solution

Chemical weathering involving dissolving of rocks or minerals by rainwater.

Carbonation

Weathering of limestone and chalk by acidic rainwater

Mass movement

The downhill movement of material under the influence of gravity.

Rockfall

The collapse of a cliff face or the fall of individual rocks from a cliff.

Landslide

Blocks of rock slike downhill.

Mudflow

Saturated soil and weak rock flows down a slope.

Slumping/rotional slump

A slump of soil and weak rock along a curved surface.

Hydraulic power

The sheer power of the waves

Abrasion

The sea picks up bits of rock and throws them at the cliffs which erodes them.

Solution

The dissolving of rocks such as limestone and chalk.

Attrition

The knocking together of pebbles, making them gradually smoother and smaller

Traction

Heavy particles rolled along the seabed

Solution

The transport of dissolved chemicals

Saltation

A hopping movement of pebbles along the seabed

Suspension

Lighter particles carried within the water

Longshore drift

The transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle

Headland

Apromontory of lang jutting out into the sea.

Bay

A broad coastal inlet often with a beach

Beach

A deposit of sand and shingle at the coast, often found in a bay

Wave-cut platform

A wide, gently sloping rocky surace at the foot of a cliff

Cave

A small dent cut into a cliff roughly at the level of hightide caused by concentrated marine erosion at this level.

Arch

A headland that has been partly broken through by the see.

Spit

A thin area of new land made of shingle or sand jutting out into the sea from the coast

Bar

A spit that has grown across a bay

Sand dunes

Hard engineering

Building artificial structures such as sea wallsaimed at controlling natural processes

Soft engineering

A sustainable management approach to managing the coast without using artificial structures

Sea wall

Concrete barrier put at the foot of cliffs or the top of the beach.

Groynes

Wooden or rock structures bult at right angles out into the sea. They trap sediment being moved by longshore drift.

Rip rap/Rock armour

Piles of large boulders dumped at the foot of the cliff which force waves to break absorbing their energy and protecting the cliffs.

Beach nourishment

The addition of sand or shingle to an existing beach.

Dune regeneration

Sand dunes ar a good natural defence but they are easily damanged by people. Marram grass can be planted to stablise the dunes and areas can be fenced off to prevent people going onto them.

Managed retreat

Allowing controlled flooding of low lying coastal areas or cliff collapse in areas where the value of the land is low.