Coastal Landscapes and Change

What Coastal Landscapes and Change covers

Covers the coast as a system: the geology and waves that shape it, the landforms erosion and deposition produce, sediment cells, sea level change, and how flooding and erosion are managed.

The 24 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The littoral zone and the influences that shape itThe backshore, nearshore and offshore zones of the littoral, geology and sea level change as longer-term influences and river inputs, wave energy and tidal range as shorter-term ones, rocky coasts in high-energy and coastal plains in low-energy environments, and wave-dominated against tide-dominated coasts.Open →
• Concordant and discordant coasts, and geological structureConcordant and discordant coasts, Dalmatian and Haff coasts, differential erosion forming headlands and bays, how bedding planes, joints, dip, faulting and folding shape cliffs and caves, the Glamorgan Heritage Coast as an example, and using GIS to map coastal landscapes.Open →
• Coastal types and the influence of rock structureRecall questions on bedding planes, joints and dip, and the cliff profiles each produces.Open →
• Faulting, folding and geological weaknessesRecall questions on how faults and folds shape a coastline and where erosion concentrates.Open →
• Rock type, permeability and cliff profilesRecall questions on igneous, metamorphic and unconsolidated material, and on how resistance and permeability shape a cliff.Open →
• Psammosere succession on sand dunesHow vegetation stabilises sandy coasts, psammosere succession through embryo, fore, yellow and grey dunes, dune slacks and the climax community, drawing and reading kite diagrams from transect data, and marram grass and other pioneer species.Open →
• Halosere succession and rates of recessionRecall questions on the salt marsh zones and their pioneer species, and on calculating rates of coastal recession.Open →
• Waves, beach profiles and marine erosionConstructive and destructive waves with their swash, backwash, beach gradient and sediment sorting, how tides, seasons and storms change beach profiles, hydraulic action, corrosion, abrasion and attrition, how wave type and lithology affect erosion, and classifying waves by frequency using measures of central tendency.Open →
• Wave-cut notches, platforms and cliffsRecall questions on how undercutting produces a notch, a retreating cliff and a wave-cut platform.Open →
• Caves, arches, stacks and stumpsThe cave, arch, stack and stump sequence by which a headland is eroded, how waves exploit joints and faults, and how each of the four landforms forms and is defined.Open →
• Longshore drift and the transport of sedimentRecall questions on swash, backwash and the angle of wave attack, and on tides and currents.Open →
• Spits, bars, tombolos and other depositional landformsRecall questions on recurved and double spits, offshore and barrier bars, tombolos and cuspate forelands.Open →
• Sediment cells: sources, transfers and sinksSediment cells and their sources, transfers and sinks, dynamic equilibrium with negative and positive feedback, Portland Bill to Selsey Bill as an example cell, and fieldwork statistics including the Student t-test for pebble size, the Chi-square test for succession zones and an index of diversity.Open →
• Weathering on the coastRecall questions on mechanical, chemical and biological weathering and how each speeds recession.Open →
• Mass movement and its landformsRecall questions on blockfall, slumping and landslides, and on rotational scars, talus slopes and terraced profiles.Open →
• Rapid coastal recession and variations in its rateWhy some coasts retreat rapidly, Holderness, how dredging, coastal management elsewhere and dams speed recession at Hallsands, the Nile Delta and California, and how fetch, tides, seasons, storms and sea level rise change the rate.Open →
• Causes of sea level change, and emergent coastlinesRecall questions on eustatic and isostatic change, and on raised beaches and fossil cliffs.Open →
• Submergent coastlines and contemporary sea level riseRecall questions on rias, fjords and Dalmatian coasts, and on the contemporary drivers of rising sea level.Open →
• Coastal flooding as a significant and increasing riskWhy low-lying and estuarine coasts are vulnerable to flooding, subsidence, freeboard and the loss of mangroves and salt marsh, Bangladesh and the Maldives as examples, how depressions and tropical cyclones generate storm surges and their short-term impacts, and how climate change raises sea level and storm intensity amid uncertainty that calls for mitigation and adaptation.Open →
• Losses from coastal recession, and environmental refugeesThe economic and social losses from coastal recession, loss of amenity value, compensation and insurance, Holderness farmers and Happisburgh, and environmental refugees in Bangladesh, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Louisiana, including why the term is contested.Open →
• Hard and soft engineering on the coastSea walls, groynes, rip rap, revetments and offshore breakwaters with their drawbacks and the Mappleton example, then beach nourishment and the Sand Engine, cliff regrading and drainage, dune stabilisation, and why soft engineering is favoured as sea levels rise.Open →
• Integrated coastal zone management and shoreline policiesRecall questions on ICZM, and on no active intervention, strategic realignment, hold the line and advance the line.Open →
• How coastal management decisions are made, and by whomHow engineering feasibility, environmental sensitivity, land value and political and social reasons shape Shoreline Management Policy, cost-benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment, conflict between homeowners, local authorities and pressure groups, and winners and losers at places such as Happisburgh in Norfolk and Chattogram in Bangladesh.Open →
• Using GIS, photographs and crowd-sourced data in coastal managementUsing GIS of coastal management cells for cost-benefit decisions on holding the line or strategic realignment, interpreting photographs of hard and soft engineering, and geo-located, crowd-sourced and big data for monitoring coastal change, with their limitations and ways to analyse them.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Coastal Landscapes and Change further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Erosion vs Weathering

  Erosion: removal of material by marine processes. Weathering: breakdown of material without transportation.

• Longshore drift vs Rip current

  Longshore drift: sediment movement along a coast by angled waves. Rip current: narrow seaward flow returning water from the shore.

• Eustatic change vs Isostatic change

  Eustatic change: global sea-level alteration caused by water-volume change. Isostatic change: local relative sea-level alteration caused by land movement.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define the backshore zone of the littoral zone.

   Model answer

   The backshore is the area of the coast above the normal high tide mark, only affected by waves during storms or exceptionally high tides.

2. 2

   Define the nearshore zone of the littoral zone.

   Model answer

   The nearshore is the zone between the low tide mark and the line where waves begin to break, where most wave action and sediment transport occurs.

3. 3

   Define the offshore zone of the littoral zone.

   Model answer

   The offshore is the zone beyond the point where waves break, extending seaward into deeper water where wave action has less influence on the seabed.

4. 4

   Why is the littoral zone described as a dynamic zone of rapid change?

   Model answer

   It experiences constant interaction between marine, atmospheric, and terrestrial processes, leading to continuous erosion, deposition, and landform modification over short timescales.

5. 5

   How can geology be used as a longer-term criterion for classifying coasts?

   Model answer

   Coasts can be classified by rock type and resistance, distinguishing between hard rock coasts (e.g. granite, limestone) and soft rock coasts (e.g. clay, sand), which influences erosion rates and landform development.

6. 6

   How can changes in sea level be used as a longer-term criterion for classifying coasts?

   Model answer

   Coasts can be classified as emergent (where land has risen or sea level fallen, exposing former seabed) or submergent (where land has subsided or sea level risen, flooding former land).

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Coastal Landscapes and Change revision questions

What does Coastal Landscapes and Change cover in Edexcel A-Level Geography?

24 subtopics: the littoral zone and the influences that shape it, concordant and discordant coasts, and geological structure, coastal types and the influence of rock structure, faulting, folding and geological weaknesses, rock type, permeability and cliff profiles, psammosere succession on sand dunes, halosere succession and rates of recession, waves, beach profiles and marine erosion, wave-cut notches, platforms and cliffs, caves, arches, stacks and stumps, longshore drift and the transport of sediment, spits, bars, tombolos and other depositional landforms, sediment cells: sources, transfers and sinks, weathering on the coast, mass movement and its landforms, rapid coastal recession and variations in its rate, causes of sea level change, and emergent coastlines, submergent coastlines and contemporary sea level rise, coastal flooding as a significant and increasing risk, losses from coastal recession, and environmental refugees, hard and soft engineering on the coast, integrated coastal zone management and shoreline policies, how coastal management decisions are made, and by whom and using gis, photographs and crowd-sourced data in coastal management. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Coastal Landscapes and Change organised?

By the Edexcel 9GE0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.