levo

Coastal Systems and Landscapes

Waves, Tides and Sediment Cells

  • 4 things to know
  • Component 1

Overview

Recall questions on coastal energy sources, wave energy and fetch, swash and backwash, constructive and destructive waves, high- and low-energy coasts, tides, tidal range, spring and neap tides, and sediment cells, budgets and sources.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

What are the four main sources of energy in a coastal system?

Key term

Which three factors determine how much energy a wave carries?

Key term

What are the characteristics of a destructive wave?

Process

Explain how wave energy is generated, and define fetch and a sediment cell.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What are the four main sources of energy in a coastal system?

    Model answer

    Winds, waves, currents and tides.

  2. 2

    How is wave energy generated?

    Model answer

    By friction as wind blows across the sea surface, transferring energy from the wind to the water.

  3. 3

    Which three factors determine how much energy a wave carries?

    Model answer

    Wind strength, wind duration, and fetch (the distance of open water the wind blows over).

  4. 4

    Define fetch.

    Model answer

    The uninterrupted distance of open water over which the wind blows; a longer fetch produces larger, higher-energy waves.

  5. 5

    Define swash and backwash.

    Model answer

    Swash is the movement of water up the beach after a wave breaks; backwash is the return of water down the beach under gravity.

  6. 6

    What are the characteristics of a constructive wave?

    Model answer

    Low height, long wavelength and low frequency, with a strong swash and weak backwash, so it deposits sediment and builds up the beach.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Water and Carbon Cycles
Hot Desert Systems and Landscapes
Coastal Systems and Landscapes
Glacial Systems and Landscapes

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

China and .
IndiaAustraliaJapan

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe horns have less sand volume, so they move more quickly.
BSand is transported up the gentle windward slope via saltation.
CSand accumulates at the crest.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Weathering means breakdown of rock in place.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Coastal Systems and Landscapes, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.