Distinctive Landscapes
Landscapes are made up of all the visible features of an area of land.
Upland areas
A landscape with more physical features, such as mountains or forest, is described as a natural landscape.
A landscape with more visible human features, like a town or city, is described as a built landscape.
These are mostly found in the north and west of the UK.
They are generally formed of harder rocks which resist erosion, e.g. slate, granite or some limestones.
Many are glaciated landscapes.
The gradient of the land is steep.
The climate tends to be cooler and wetter.
The harsh climate and thin soils allow rough vegetation to thrive, and some areas are used for forestry.
Land uses include sheep farming, quarrying and tourism.
Lowland areas
The landscape is flatter with gently rolling hills.
The climate tends to be warmer and drier.
They are generally formed from softer rocks, e.g. chalk, clay and some sandstones.
Vegetation grows easily in the more fertile soils and includes grassy meadows and deciduous forests.
Mostly found in the south and east.
Land uses include quarrying and tourism, as well as dairy and arable farming (growing crops).
Most urban areas and industries are located in lowland areas.
Glaciated landscapes
Ice is very powerful, so it was able to erode the landscape, carving out valleys. It also deposited lots of material as it melted.
During the glacial period, ice covered the UK mostly in upland areas in the north-west.
Mechanical weathering
Biological weathering
Chemical weathering
The breakdown of rock without changing its chemical composition. The main type of mechanical weathering that affects landscapes in the UK is freeze thaw.
The breakdown of rock by changing its chemical composition. Carbonation weathering is a type of chemical weathering that happens in warm and wet conditions.
The breakdown of rock by living things, e.g. plant roots break down by growing into cracks on their surfaces and pushing them apart.
Transportation
Traction
Saltation
Solution
Suspension
Soluble materials dissolve in the water and are carried along.
Large particles, like boulders, are pushed along the river bed or sea floor by the force of water.
Pebble-sized particles are bounced along the river bed or sea floor by the force of water.
Small particles like silt and clay are carried along by the water.
Erosion
Attrition
Solution
Abrasion
Hydraulic action
Waves crash against rock and compress the air in the cracks. This puts pressure on the rock. Repeated compression widens the cracks and makes bits of rock break off.
Eroded particles in the water scrape and rub against rock in the sea bed, cliffs or river channel, remoing small pieces and wearing them away.
Eroded particles in the water smash into each other and break into smaller fragments. Their edges also get rounded off as they rub together. The further the material travels the more eroded it gets.
Dissolved carbon dioxide makes river and sea water slightly acidic. The acid reacts chemically with some rocks e.g. chalk and limestone, dissolving them.
Headlands and bay
Some types of rocks are more resistant to erosion than others.
Headlands and bays form where there are alternating bands of resistant and less resistant rock along the coast.
Less resistant rock is eroded quickly and forms a bay - bays have a gentle slope.
The more resistant rock is eroded slower and is left jutting out, forming a headland - headlands have steep sides.
Caves, arches and stacks
Repeated erostion causes a cave to form.
The cave is then deepened until the water breacks through the headland forming an arch.
Waves crash into the headland and enlarge existing cracks - mainly by hydraulic action and abrasion.
Eventually the arch collapses because it can no longer support itself.
This forms a stack - an isolated rock that is separate from the headland.
Spits and longshore drift
Spits are just beaches that stick out into the sea and form at sharp bends in the coastline. Behind a spit there is usually an area of mud flat or salt marsh.
Long shore drift is the process that moves material along the coast in a zig zag pattern. Swash carries material up the beach and backwash then carries it down the beach at a right angle.
River basin
A area of land surrounding a river, where any rain falling on the land eventually makes its way into that river.
River basins are separated by a boundary called a watershed. They are ridges of high land - water falling on either side of these ridges will go into different river basins.
Key river features
Tributary
Source
Mouth
A smaller river that joins a main river.
Where the river flows into the sea or lake.
Where a river starts, usually a upland area.
Waterfalls
The hard rock is then undercut by erosion and eventually becomes unstable and collapses. The collapsed rock is swirled around at the foot of the waterfall and creates a plunge pool where more erosion of the soft rock occurs.
Overtime this process is repeated and the waterfall will retreat leaving behind a steep sided gorge.
Waterfalls form where a river flows over an area of hard rock followed by an area of softer rock. The softer rock is eroded quicker (by hydraulic action and abrasion) than hard rock so a steep drop is eventually created, this is called a waterfall.
Meanders and ox-bow lakes
Meanders are the large bends in the middle and lower courses of a river, in areas where there are both shallow and deep sections. The current is faster on the outside because the water is deeper, this means that more erosion takes place. The current is slower on the inside because the water is shallower, this means that eroded material is deposited here.
Floodplain
V-shaped valleys
Levees
Levees, found in the lower course, are the natural embankments (raised bits) along the edges of a river channel. During a flood eroded material is depostited over the whole floodplain, however, the heaviest material is deposited closest to the river channel. This material builds up and creates what is known as a levee.
In the upper course of a river, fast flowing water following heavy rain and high turbulence causes loose and rough particles and boulders to be transported by the river and scraped along the river bed.
A floodplain, found in the lower course, is the wide valley floor on either side of a river which occasionally gets flooded. When a river floods onto the floodplain, the water slows down and deposits the eroded material, this builds up the floodplain.
This causes downward erosion in the river channel by the process of abrasion.
The sides of the valleys are exposed to weathering and so the weathered material that falls down the sides into the river causes further abrasion
The river does not always have enough energy to erode outwards so a steep sided v shape is created.
Ox-bow lakes are formed from meanders when the water breaks through a piece of land, usually during a flood. This is because it wants to flow over the shortest and easiest route. Deposition eventually cuts of the meander and a ox-bow lake is left.