Key term
WJEC A-Level Geography 601-8455-3
Coastal Landscapes
Topic overviewThe coast as an open systemSediment sources and sediment cellsTides and coastal currentsConstructive and destructive wavesHigh energy coasts and erosional landscape systemsLow energy coasts and depositional landscape systemsFetch, wave refraction and wave energyLithology and structural geology at the coastSub-aerial weathering and mass movementMarine processes of erosionErosional landforms of rocky coastsCoastal transport and longshore driftDeposition, flocculation and sediment sortingDepositional landforms of sandy coastsSand dunes and aeolian processesEstuaries, tidal flats and salt marshesCoral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoastal change over different timescalesCoastal processes and human activityHuman impact on coastal landscape systems
Glaciated Landscapes
Topic overviewThe glacier as an open systemClimate change and the glacier budgetGlacier movementTypes of ice mass and their distributionGlacial weathering and erosion processesMacro-scale erosional landformsGlacial transport and depositional landformsFluvioglacial landformsSuites of landforms in glacial landscapesPeriglacial processes and ground icePeriglacial action of water and windGlacial change over different timescalesGlacial environments and human activity
Tectonic Hazards
Topic overviewThe internal structure of the EarthMechanisms of plate movementDivergent and conservative plate marginsConvergent margins and subductionHot spots and the global distribution of tectonic hazardsThe hazard profile and measuring magnitudeTypes of volcano and styles of eruptionPrimary volcanic hazardsSecondary volcanic hazardsImpacts of volcanic activity at different scalesContrasting volcanic eruptionsEarthquake characteristics and seismic wavesEarthquake hazards and ground behaviourTsunami processes and impactsContrasting earthquake eventsRisk, vulnerability and human factorsMonitoring, prediction and warningMitigation, response and the hazard management cycle
Changing Places
Topic overviewWhat gives a place its characterFlows and connections that shape placesMeaning, perception and attachment to placeHow places are representedEconomic restructuring and the Clark Fisher modelDeindustrialisation and social inequalityThe service economy and its impactsThe knowledge economy and clustersRebranding rural placesManaging change in rural placesRebranding urban placesManaging change in urban placesComparing a home place with a contrasting placeHow place change affects people's lives
Water and Carbon Cycles
Topic overviewThe water cycle as a global system and mass balanceGlobal water stores and residence timesCryospheric processes and sea-level changeDrainage basin inputs, stores and outputsFlows within the drainage basinRiver regimes and their controlsStorm hydrographs and hydrograph shapeAir uplift, cloud formation and precipitationExcess runoff and floodingDeficit in the water cycle and aquifer rechargeThe global carbon cycle and its storesCarbon pathways between land and the atmosphereCarbon transfers involving the oceansCarbon stores in biomes and land-use changeChanging carbon stores in peatlandsRising atmospheric carbon and its impactsFeedback within and between the water and carbon cycles
Global Migration
Topic overviewGlobalisation and a shrinking worldClassifying and mapping migrationCauses of international economic migrationConsequences and management of economic migrationRefugee movements and internal displacementRural-urban migration in developing countriesSuperpowers and global hub citiesMigration policy and public debate in the UKManaging refugee crisesInformal settlements in developing cities
Global Governance of the Oceans
Topic overviewSupranational institutions and global governanceLaws and agreements governing the oceansStrategic value of the oceans and maritime securityShipping, cables and illicit flowsSovereignty over ocean resourcesManaging marine environmentsOcean pollution and its managementGovernance across scales: an ocean case study
EcosystemsContemporary theme
Topic overviewThe value of ecosystems to peopleThe distribution of global biomesEcosystem structure, energy flow and productivityNutrient cycling in contrasting biomesMeasuring and threatening biodiversityConserving biodiversitySuccession and local ecosystemsThe Arctic tundra biomeSustainable use of the Arctic tundra
Economic Growth and Challenge: IndiaContemporary theme
Economic Growth and Challenge: ChinaContemporary theme
Development in an African ContextContemporary theme
Energy Challenges and DilemmasContemporary theme
Weather and ClimateContemporary theme
Fieldwork and Geographical Skills
Coastal Landscapes
- 20 subtopics
- 45 things to know
- AS Unit 1
What Coastal Landscapes covers
Coastal Landscapes is examined in AS Unit 1, Changing Landscapes. It covers the coast as an open system, sediment sources and sediment cells, tides and coastal currents, constructive and destructive waves, high energy coasts and erosional landscape systems, low energy coasts and depositional landscape systems, fetch, wave refraction and wave energy, lithology and structural geology at the coast, sub-aerial weathering and mass movement, marine processes of erosion, erosional landforms of rocky coasts, coastal transport and longshore drift, deposition, flocculation and sediment sorting, depositional landforms of sandy coasts, sand dunes and aeolian processes, estuaries, tidal flats and salt marshes, coral reefs and mangrove coastlines, coastal change over different timescales, coastal processes and human activity and human impact on coastal landscape systems.
The 20 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The coast as an open systemDescribing the coast as an open system, four components used to describe the coastal system and two inputs of material to the coastal system.Open →
- Sediment sources and sediment cellsThree terrestrial sources of coastal sediment, coastal sediment cell and why sediment cells matter for coastal management.Open →
- Tides and coastal currentsDiurnal tidal cycle, tidal range and neap tide.Open →
- Constructive and destructive wavesSwash of a wave, backwash of a wave and three characteristics of a constructive wave.Open →
- High energy coasts and erosional landscape systemsHigh energy coastline, four erosional landforms found on a rocky coastline and rocky or cliffed coastline.Open →
- Low energy coasts and depositional landscape systemsLow energy coastline, four depositional landforms of a sandy coastline and estuarine coastline.Open →
- Fetch, wave refraction and wave energyWhy the south-west coast of Wales receives high energy waves, wave orientation and wave refraction.Open →
- Lithology and structural geology at the coastHow mineral composition affects the rate of cliff retreat, structural geology in a coastal context and dip of a rock stratum.Open →
- Sub-aerial weathering and mass movementSub-aerial processes, three categories of weathering and freeze-thaw weathering on a cliff face.Open →
- Marine processes of erosionFour processes of marine erosion, hydraulic action and abrasion at the coast.Open →
- Erosional landforms of rocky coastsSequence that produces a cave, arch, stack and stump, wave-cut platform and three factors that control the height of a cliff.Open →
- Coastal transport and longshore driftFour processes by which waves and currents transport sediment, transport in solution and transport in suspension.Open →
- Deposition, flocculation and sediment sortingHow the electrical charge on clay particles makes flocculation possible and sediment sorting.Open →
- Depositional landforms of sandy coastsFormation of a beach, formation of a spit and recurved end.Open →
- Sand dunes and aeolian processesHow wind moves sand on a beach, embryo dune and change in soil conditions across a dune succession.Open →
- Estuaries, tidal flats and salt marshesHow a mudflat forms, difference between a mudflat and a salt marsh and creeks in a salt marsh.Open →
- Coral reefs and mangrove coastlinesCoral polyp, water temperature range that reef-building coral requires and coral bleaching.Open →
- Coastal change over different timescalesHow one storm event can alter a cliff profile, seasonal change in a beach profile in the UK and eustatic change in sea level.Open →
- Coastal processes and human activityHow a depositional coastline supports a tourist economy, two economic losses caused by coastal erosion and why coastal erosion creates blight for property owners.Open →
- Human impact on coastal landscape systemsHow offshore dredging damages a coastal system, how trampling degrades a sand dune and why river management inland can cause coastal erosion.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Process
Explain the sequence that produces a cave, arch, stack and stump.
Key term
Define a geo.
Process
Describe the process of longshore drift.
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Suggest why coastal management is increasingly planned for whole sediment cells.
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What is meant by describing the coast as an open system?
Numbers
What proportion of coastal sediment in the UK typically comes from rivers?
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What is meant by a diurnal tidal cycle?
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How does a wave transfer energy without moving water forward in the open sea?
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What is meant by a high energy coastline?
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Define fetch.
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Define lithology.
Process
What is meant by sub-aerial processes?
Process
Name the four processes of marine erosion.
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Define flocculation.
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Describe the formation of a beach.
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What conditions are needed for coastal sand dunes to form?
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Define an estuary.
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What is a coral polyp?
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Over what timescale can a single storm change a cliff profile?
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Explain how a depositional coastline supports a tourist economy.
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Name the four components used to describe the coastal system.
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Name three terrestrial sources of coastal sediment.
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Most of the UK coast experiences which tidal pattern?
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Why does a wave break as it approaches the shore?
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Give three conditions that make a coastline high energy.
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What is meant by a low energy coastline?
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State the three factors that determine the energy of a wave when it reaches the coast.
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Why does granite form more resistant coastal cliffs than clay?
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Name the three categories of weathering.
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Explain hydraulic action.
Process
Name the four processes by which waves and currents transport sediment.
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Why does flocculation matter in an estuary?
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Describe the formation of a spit.
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What is an embryo dune?
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What is the difference between a mudflat and a salt marsh?
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Name the algae that live within coral tissue and state what they provide.
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Explain how one storm event can alter a cliff profile.
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Name two economic losses caused by coastal erosion.
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Give two positive impacts of human activity on coastal landforms.
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Give three inputs of energy to the coastal system.
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Give two offshore sources of coastal sediment.
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Define tidal range.
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Define the swash of a wave.
Key term
Name four erosional landforms found on a rocky coastline.
Take Coastal Landscapes further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Constructive wave vs Destructive wave
Constructive wave: a low, long, infrequent form whose run up the beach is stronger than the return, so material accumulates. Destructive wave: a high, short, frequent form whose return down the beach is stronger than the run up, so material is dragged seaward.
Abrasion vs Attrition
Abrasion: the wearing away of the coastline by sediment that the water hurls against it or drags across it. Attrition: the wearing down of the sediment itself as particles collide and become smaller and rounder.
Eustatic change vs Isostatic change
Eustatic change: a worldwide alteration in sea level caused by a shift in the volume of ocean water or of the basins holding it. Isostatic change: a local alteration in the height of the land relative to the sea, caused by the crust rising or sinking.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is meant by describing the coast as an open system?
Model answer
The coast is an open system because energy and material can both enter and leave it across its boundaries, rather than circulating within a closed set of stores.
- 2
Name the four components used to describe the coastal system.
Model answer
Inputs, outputs, stores and transfers, sometimes called flows.
- 3
Give three inputs of energy to the coastal system.
Model answer
Wave energy, tidal energy and wind energy, with a further input from currents.
- 4
State two inputs of material to the coastal system.
Model answer
Sediment delivered by rivers and sediment eroded from cliffs, with further material supplied from offshore and by the wind.
- 5
What are the main outputs from a coastal system?
Model answer
Sediment carried offshore into deep water or along the coast out of the cell, sediment blown inland into dunes, and energy lost through friction and wave breaking.
- 6
Give three stores found within a coastal system.
Model answer
Beaches, sand dunes and offshore bars, along with spits, salt marshes and the nearshore sediment on the sea bed.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Coastal Landscapes revision questions
- What does Coastal Landscapes cover in WJEC A-Level Geography?
- 20 subtopics: the coast as an open system, sediment sources and sediment cells, tides and coastal currents, constructive and destructive waves, high energy coasts and erosional landscape systems, low energy coasts and depositional landscape systems, fetch, wave refraction and wave energy, lithology and structural geology at the coast, sub-aerial weathering and mass movement, marine processes of erosion, erosional landforms of rocky coasts, coastal transport and longshore drift, deposition, flocculation and sediment sorting, depositional landforms of sandy coasts, sand dunes and aeolian processes, estuaries, tidal flats and salt marshes, coral reefs and mangrove coastlines, coastal change over different timescales, coastal processes and human activity and human impact on coastal landscape systems. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Coastal Landscapes organised?
- By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Coastal Landscapes, on a schedule.
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