It is a dynamic open system, it has inputs and outputs of energy and material (sediment).
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What contributes to dynamic change?
The coast has stores of materials and energy, with a wide range of processes operating in order to move these, e.g. rivers, waves and ocean currents, and atmospheric processes such as wind. These contribute to dynamic change.
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What is a sediment budget?
In order to manage a stretch of coastline it is necessary to know how mcuh sediment is available, where it comes from, where it is stored and how it leaves a coastal section. The identification of these factors is referred to a sediment budget.
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What outputs are there in a sediment budget?
Longshore Drift - Large volumes of sediment are temp. lost to the sediment budget in stores.
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What is a balanced sediment budget?
Input and output volumes should be in equilibrium.
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What does human actions do to the sediment budget?
Building dams etc. upsets the sediment balance as the output suddenly declines.
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What can help balance the budget?
Beach nourishment - Represents a major input to help balance the budget.
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What is a sediment cell?
Units of coastal management where the dominant processes influence the sediment budget are generally uniform within a particular stretch of coast. Usually contained between two prominent headlands.
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What are the different types of equilibrium?
Steady state - Variations in energy do not deviate far from the long-term average. Meta-stable - switches between two or more states. Dynamic - Gradual change over a long period of time.
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What is system feedback?
The result of change in a system. It can be positive or negative.
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What is positive feedback?
It is the amplification of the inital change in the system.
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What is negative feedback?
The diminshment of the effect of change,
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
What contributes to dynamic change?
Back
The coast has stores of materials and energy, with a wide range of processes operating in order to move these, e.g. rivers, waves and ocean currents, and atmospheric processes such as wind. These contribute to dynamic change.
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