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Coastal Landscapes in the UK

Waves and coastal processes: weathering, mass movement, erosion, transport and deposition

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1 section C

Overview

How wind makes waves, swash and backwash, constructive and destructive waves, mechanical and chemical weathering, sliding, slumping and rock falls, hydraulic power, abrasion and attrition, longshore drift, and why sediment is deposited on the coast.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Explain how longshore drift moves material along a coast.

Key term

What is the difference between the swash and the backwash of a breaking wave?

Key term

How does chemical weathering break down rock at the coast?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How are waves at sea created, and what three factors control how large they become?

    Model answer

    They are created by the wind blowing across the surface of open water, and their size depends on how strong the wind is, how long it blows for and the fetch it has crossed.

  2. 2

    What is the difference between the swash and the backwash of a breaking wave?

    Model answer

    The swash is the water rushing up the beach once the wave has broken, and the backwash is the water draining back down the beach under gravity.

  3. 3

    What are the characteristics of a constructive wave?

    Model answer

    It is low and long and breaks gently, and its strong swash and weak backwash push more material up the beach than they drag away, so the beach is built up.

  4. 4

    What does a destructive wave look like, and what effect does it have on a beach?

    Model answer

    It is tall and steep and breaks often, and its weak swash and powerful backwash drag material back down the beach, so the beach is worn away.

  5. 5

    What is mechanical weathering on a coast, and which type is most common?

    Model answer

    It is the breaking up of rock into fragments with no change to its chemistry, most often freeze-thaw, where water in a crack freezes, expands and prises the rock apart.

  6. 6

    How does chemical weathering break down rock at the coast?

    Model answer

    Slightly acidic rainwater and salty spray react with minerals in the rock and dissolve them, so rocks such as chalk and limestone are slowly eaten away and weakened.

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