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coast and landscape EQ1 - Coggle Diagram
coast and landscape EQ1
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classifying coasts
short term criteria
energy inputs - tides (ebb ad flow over 12.5 hour period), as well as currents, rivers, precipitation, gravity and tectonics - this creates high and low energy coastlines
sediment inputs - deposition and erosions rates - deposition higher means expanding coastline, erosion higher mean eroding coastlines.
advancing and retreating - happens due to erosion and deposition, as well as emergent and submergent coasts linked with sea levels.
long term criteria
geology - the lithology (rock type) and structure (arrangement of those rocks). this is used to determine whether a coast is rocky, sandy or estuarine - and concordant (parallel) or discordant (perpendicular).
sea level change - this is used to classify emergent and submergent coasts. Tectonic plate movement can lift or submerge sections of land. climate change, causing sea level rise, can cause a coast to become submergent.
rocky vs coastal plains
rocky coasts
1,000 km of the UK's coastline mainly in north and west
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little deposition, high energy erosion
sandy plains
flat, low relief, often containing wetlands and saltmarshes.
low energy environment, deposition is high.
can be sand, shingle and cobbles.
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complex cliff profiles
these are produced where there are differing types of lithology. less resistant strate erode and weather quickly, producing wave cut notches. resistant strata erode and weather slowly, retreating less rapidly, forming a 'bench' at the cliff base. this leads to overhand above and collapse - undercutting!.
the role of vegetation
vegetation stabilises the coast - plant roots bind soil together, leaves and stems cover the grounds surface protecting it from LSD. wind wave and tidal erosion.
coasts and harsh environments for plants due to exposed nature of high winds, lack of shade, salt water submerging, sand lacking nutrients.
pioneer plants are the first to colonise ar a coastline - they modify the environment by stabilising sediment, adding nutrients to the soil, and reducing evaporation rates.
they create plant succession - which is the process of different plant communities occupying an area of the coast over time.
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