Coastal Landscapes

What Coastal Landscapes covers

Coastal Landscapes is examined in Component 1 Section A, if coastal is the landscape you sit. It covers the coast as a system: inputs, outputs, stores and transfers, sediment sources, sediment cells and dynamic equilibrium, tides, currents and wave types, high and low energy coastal environments, fetch, wave refraction and wave reflection, lithology and structural geology at the coast, sub-aerial weathering and mass movement at the coast, marine erosion processes, cliffs, wave-cut platforms, geos and blowholes, headlands, bays and the cave to stump sequence, coastal transport and longshore drift, coastal deposition, flocculation and sediment sorting, beaches, spits and bars, tombolos, cuspate forelands and sandy coastlines, coastal sand dunes and aeolian processes, estuarine coastlines, tidal flats and salt marshes, coral reefs and mangrove coastlines, storms, seasons and sea level change, coastal processes and human activity and human impacts and coastal management.

The 20 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The coast as a system: inputs, outputs, stores and transfersFour main energy inputs to the coastal system, three terrestrial sources of sediment for a coastal system and main outputs from a coastal system.Open →
• Sediment sources, sediment cells and dynamic equilibriumCoastal sediment cell, why sediment cells matter for coastal management and dynamic equilibrium in the coastal system.Open →
• Tides, currents and wave typesDiurnal tidal cycle, formation of neap tides and tidal range.Open →
• High and low energy coastal environmentsHigh energy coastal environment, three landforms typical of a high energy rocky coastline and low energy coastal environment.Open →
• Fetch, wave refraction and wave reflectionWave refraction, wave orientation and wave reflection.Open →
• Lithology and structural geology at the coastWhy the chalk of Flamborough Head erodes faster than granite, dip of a rock stratum and importance of joints in coastal erosion.Open →
• Sub-aerial weathering and mass movement at the coastSub-aerial processes, how freeze-thaw weathering attacks a cliff and wetting and drying weathering and where does it matter most.Open →
• Marine erosion processesHydraulic action, role of air compression in wave quarrying and abrasion in a coastal setting.Open →
• Cliffs, wave-cut platforms, geos and blowholesFormation of a cliff, formation of a wave-cut platform and typical gradient of a wave-cut platform.Open →
• Headlands, bays and the cave to stump sequenceHow headlands and bays form on a discordant coast, bayhead beach and first stage in the cave to stump sequence.Open →
• Coastal transport and longshore driftTraction as a transport process, saltation at the coast and transport in suspension.Open →
• Coastal deposition, flocculation and sediment sortingFour situations that reduce coastal energy enough for deposition, why flocculation matters in estuaries and sediment sorting.Open →
• Beaches, spits and barsTypical profile of a shingle beach, difference between the berm and the runnel on a beach and formation of a spit.Open →
• Tombolos, cuspate forelands and sandy coastlinesHow a tombolo forms, tombolo outside the UK and cuspate foreland.Open →
• Coastal sand dunes and aeolian processesHow wind moves sand on a beach, embryo dune and foredune or yellow dune.Open →
• Estuarine coastlines, tidal flats and salt marshesHow tidal flats are built, salt pans on a tidal flat and creeks and rills on a tidal flat.Open →
• Coral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoral polyp, symbiotic relationship that allows coral to grow and fringing reef.Open →
• Storms, seasons and sea level changeStorm surge, eustatic sea level change and isostatic sea level change.Open →
• Coastal processes and human activityPort that depends on a drowned valley and economic losses caused by erosion at Holderness.Open →
• Human impacts and coastal managementHow dune systems are conserved in practice, damage caused by offshore dredging and hallsands case study.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Coastal Landscapes further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Abrasion vs Attrition

  Abrasion: waves wearing away the cliff or platform using the sediment they carry. Attrition: the wearing down of the sediment itself.

• Corrosion vs Corrasion

  Corrosion: the chemical solution of rock by seawater. Corrasion: another name for abrasion, the mechanical wearing of rock by sediment.

• Eustatic change vs Isostatic change

  Eustatic change: a worldwide change in sea level caused by a change in the volume of ocean water. Isostatic change: a local change in the height of the land relative to the sea.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does it mean to call the coast an open system?

   Model answer

   An open system exchanges both energy and matter with its surroundings. A stretch of coast receives wave energy and sediment and passes both on to neighbouring stretches.

2. 2

   Name the four main energy inputs to the coastal system.

   Model answer

   The four energy inputs are waves, tides, currents and wind. Solar heating and gravity ultimately drive all four.

3. 3

   State three terrestrial sources of sediment for a coastal system.

   Model answer

   Rivers, eroding cliffs and material carried in by the wind supply sediment from the land. Rivers are the largest single source on most coastlines.

4. 4

   Where do offshore supplies of coastal sediment come from?

   Model answer

   Offshore sediment comes from the sea bed, from offshore bars and from material left by past sea level change. Waves and tidal currents drive it shoreward.

5. 5

   Give two biological inputs of sediment to a coast.

   Model answer

   Shell and coral fragments broken down by wave action are one biological input. Plant material trapped in salt marshes and dunes is a second.

6. 6

   What are the main outputs from a coastal system?

   Model answer

   Sediment carried into deep water offshore, blown inland into dunes or moved into the next sediment cell forms the main output. Wave energy absorbed by a beach is an energy output.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Coastal Landscapes revision questions

What does Coastal Landscapes cover in Eduqas A-Level Geography?

20 subtopics: the coast as a system: inputs, outputs, stores and transfers, sediment sources, sediment cells and dynamic equilibrium, tides, currents and wave types, high and low energy coastal environments, fetch, wave refraction and wave reflection, lithology and structural geology at the coast, sub-aerial weathering and mass movement at the coast, marine erosion processes, cliffs, wave-cut platforms, geos and blowholes, headlands, bays and the cave to stump sequence, coastal transport and longshore drift, coastal deposition, flocculation and sediment sorting, beaches, spits and bars, tombolos, cuspate forelands and sandy coastlines, coastal sand dunes and aeolian processes, estuarine coastlines, tidal flats and salt marshes, coral reefs and mangrove coastlines, storms, seasons and sea level change, coastal processes and human activity and human impacts and coastal management. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Coastal Landscapes organised?

By the Eduqas A110QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.