Unit 1 People and the Physical World: Coasts Key Word Glossary

St Ivo School Geography Department Revision Quiz - Coasts Key Word Glossary

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These waves have limited energy and build up beaches (greater swash than backwash)Constructive waves
These waves have alot of energy and erode beaches (greater backwash than swash)Destructive waves
The distance over which the wind has blown to form a waveThe Fetch
The wearing away of the landErosion
The force of waves compressing air in cracks in cliffs, forcing the cracks open.Hydraulic Action
When salts and other acids in seawater slowly dissolve rocksSolution
When large waves hurl beach material against a cliffAbrasion
Water moving up a beachSwash
Waves swirling rock fragments about, which collide and break each other downAttrition
Water moving down a beachBackwash
The movement of material along a coastLongshore Drift
Ridge of sediment reaching across the mouth of a bayBar
Ridge of sediment joining an island to the mainlandTombolo
Ridge of sediment growing out into the sea (formed by longshore drift)Spit
Wave-cut platformsolid rock platform at the base of a cliff
Rock left standing out in the sea having been separated from the mainland by erosionStack
Wave cut passage through a headlandArch
Area of hard resistant rock jutting out into the seaHeadland
An indent in the coastline where there is soft less resistant rockBay
A build up of sand, pebbles and the sea where the land meets the seaBeach