Summary: Coasts

Read the summary and the most important questions on coasts

• 2 coasts

• 2.1 The coast and wider littoral zone, has distinctive features and landscapes

• Low energy environment?

  A coast where wave action is predominately small constructive waves - depostion takes place leading to beach accretion

• 2.2 Geological structre influences the development of coastal lanscpaes at a variety of scales

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• Dalmation coast lines

  • Found at concordant coastlines
    
  • Rise in sea levels lead to flooded river valleys between tall headlands - The headlands became inlands running perpendicular to the main land 
  • Tectonic processes orginaly moved the ocean floor craeting a series of syniclines and anticlines - sea levles rose about 7m after the ice age submerged the synlines and left the anticlines sticking out like islands.

• How does the diffrence in headlands and bays reduce over time

  • Headlands are eroded farster than bays because the wave energy converges on headlands and diverages in bays.
    
  • As waves approach the shallower water of a headland wave height increases - more erosion
  • As waves enter the bay the wave crests curve to fill the bay and the wave height decreases - less erosion

• 2.8 Rapid coastal retreat causes threats to people at the coast

• Since the construction of the high aswan dam in 1964 what has happened to the flow of the nile

  Sediment volume fell from 130 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes

• What has happened to the erosion rates of the nile due to the high aswan dam

  They have jumped from 20-25m to over 200m/year

• How much of the nile will be seriously vulnerable to inundation

  1/5

• What is the expected sea level rise of the nile by the end of the century

  59cm

• What is the mappleton project

  It is a £2 million project to protect 2 large groynes to trap sediment and a revement having large granite boulders has stopped long shore drift carrying material. - this reduced erosion for the village but the area directly south of the village has now experienced even greater rates of erosion which is terminal groyne syndrome

• Crystalline rocks such as granite (example of a strong rock)

  Have interlocking crystals and a very strong

• What is the weakest coastal material

  Unconsolidated sediment as it is not compacted or cemented the material is loose and easily eroded