The height and angle of a cliff face as well as its features, such as wave-cut notches or changes in slope angle.
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Littoral zone
The wider coastal zone including adjacent land areas and shallow parts of the sea just offshore.
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Coastal accretion
The deposition of sediment at the coast and the seaward growth of the coastline, creating new land. It often involves sediment deposition being stabilised by vegetation.
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Dynamic equilibrium
The balanced state of a system when inputs and outputs balance over time. If one element of the system changes because of an outside influence, the internal equilibrium of the system is upset and other components of the system change.
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Holocene
The geological epoch that began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the last Pleistocene ice age. Its early stages were marked by large sea level rises of about 35m and a warming of interglacial climate.
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Faults
Major fractures in rocks produced by tectonic forces and involving the displacement or rocks on either side of the fault line.
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Unconsolidated sediment
Material such as sand, gravel, clay and silt that has not been compacted and cemented to become a sedimentary rock and so is loose and easily eroded.
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Pore water pressure
The pressure water experiences at a particular point below the water table due to the weight of water above it.
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Fetch
The uninterrupted distance across water over which a wind blows, and therefore the distance waves have to grow in size.
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Swash
The flow of water up the beach as a wave breaks.
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Backwash
When water runs back down the beach to meet the next incoming wave.
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Beach morphology
The shape of a beach, including its width and slope (the beach profile) and features such as berms, ridges and runnels. It also includes the type of sediment found at different locations on the beach.
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Blow hole
Forms when a coastal cave turns upwards and breaks through the flat cliff top. Usually this is because of erosion of especially weak strata or the presence of a fault line.
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Currents
Flows of seawater in a particular direction driven by winds or differences in water density, salinity or temperature. Some sre almost continuous, such as those that form the global thermohaline circulaton, and others are more sporadic e.g. LSD.
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Mass movement
The downslope movement of rock and soil; it is an umbrella term for a wide range of specific movements including andslide, rockfall and rotational slide.
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Isostatic change
A local rise or fall in land level.
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Eustatic change -
Involves a rise or fall in water level caused by a change in the volume of water. This is a global change, affecting all the world's connected seas and oceans.
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Accretion
This occurs when sediment is added to a landform such as a river delta by deposition. It can build up to form new land, allowing a delta to grow out to sea. It tends to be balanced by subsidence, caused by the weight of the newly deposited sediment.
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Post-glacial isostatic adjustment
Refers to the uplift experienced by land following the removal of the weight of ice sheets. It is sometimes called post-glacial rebound or post-glacial re-adjustment.
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Ria
A drowned river valley in an unglaciated area caused by sea level rises flooding the river valley, making it much wider than would be expected based on the river flowing into it.
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Barrier islands
Offshore sediment bars, usually sand dune covered but, unlike spits, they are not attached to the coast. They are found between 500m and 30km offshore and can be tens of km long.
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Dredging
Involves scooping or sucking sediment up from the seabed or river bed, usually for construction sand or gravel, or to deapen a channel so that large boats can navigate it.
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Dissipation
The term used to describe how the energy of a wave is decreased by friction with beach material during the wave swash up the beach. A wide beach slows down and saps their energy so, when they break, most energy has gone.
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Environmental refugees
Communities forced to abandon their homes due to natural disasters including sudden ones, such as landslides, or gradual ones, such as erosion or rising sea levels.
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Sustainable coastal management
Managing the wider coastal zone in terms of people and their economic livelihoods, social and cultural weel-being, and safety from coastal hazards, as well as minimising environmental and ecological impacts.
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Conflict
Disagreement over how the coast should be protected from threats and which areas should be protected. Conflict often exists between different stake-holders such as residents vs the local council.
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Littoral cells
All coastlines divide up into distinct littoral cells containing sediment sources, transport paths and sinks. Each littoral cell is isolated from adjacent cells and can be managed as a holistic unit.
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Outflanking
Occurs when erosion gets behind coastal defences at the point where they stop, leading to rapid erosion inland and undermining of defences.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Littoral zone
Back
The wider coastal zone including adjacent land areas and shallow parts of the sea just offshore.
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