Coastal Systems and Landscapes Glossary - AQA Geography

Flashcards covering key terms from Coastal Systems and Landscapes for AQA Geography A Level & AS Physical Geography.

What characterizes high-energy environments?

Coastlines with powerful waves where rates of erosion exceed rates of deposition.

What is hydraulic action in coastal processes?

The sheer force of the water as it crashes against a coastline.

What is Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)?

A strategy designed to manage complete sections of the coast, rather than individual towns or villages, by bringing together all of those involved in the development, management, and use of the coast.

What is isostatic change?

The rising or falling of a land mass relative to the sea, resulting from the release of the weight of ice after the last ice age or by the weight of sediment being deposited.

What is isostatic recovery (rebound)?

When the land readjusts and rises as a result of the reduced weight of ice following the end of a glacial period.

What is isostatic subsidence (sinking)?

When the land sinks during glacial periods because of the enormous weight of ice sheets.

What is a landform?

Individual components of a landscape, for example, a cliff, a beach, or a wave-cut platform.

How is a landscape defined?

A broad area usually consisting of several different landforms – the characteristic elements of a particular location.

What is a landslide?

When a block of rock moves very rapidly downhill along a planar surface (a slide plane), often a bedding plane that is roughly parallel to the ground surface.

What is a landslip (or slump)?

When a block of land moves very rapidly downhill but its slide surface is curved rather than flat, characterized by a sharp break of slope and the formation of a scar.

What is lithology?

The geological structure of an area - the type of rocks and their characteristics.

How does longshore (littoral) drift occur?

When the different angles of swash and backwash cause a zigzag movement of sediment up and down the beach.

What defines low-energy environments?

Coastlines with waves of relatively low power where rates of deposition exceed rates of erosion.

What is mass movement?

The downhill movement of material under the influence of gravity.

How are mudflats formed?

Formed in low-energy environments, such as river estuaries in the lee of spits, where the very smallest clay particles drop (flocculation) on the sheltered side.