Eduqas GCSE (9-1) Geography B (C112) · Spec 2.1
Coasts and coastal management
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- Constructive waves have a strong swash and build up beaches. Destructive waves have a strong backwash and wear the coast away.
- Waves erode by hydraulic action, abrasion and attrition. The sea moves material by traction, saltation, suspension and solution.
- Longshore drift moves sediment along a beach in a zigzag. Swash carries it up at an angle and backwash pulls it straight back down.
- Erosion makes a crack, then a cave, an arch and a stack. It also cuts a wave-cut platform. Deposition makes beaches, spits and bars.
- Hard engineering includes sea walls and groynes. Soft engineering works with nature, such as beach nourishment. Managed retreat lets low-value land flood in a planned way.
- Rising sea level and stronger storms make management harder. People disagree about what to protect, and who pays.
Key terms
- Swash
- The movement of a wave up the beach.
- Backwash
- The movement of water back down the beach.
- Hydraulic action
- Waves force air and water into cracks and break the rock apart.
- Abrasion
- Rocks carried by waves scrape and wear away the cliff.
- Attrition
- Stones knock together and become smaller and rounder.
- Longshore drift
- The movement of sediment along the coast by waves hitting at an angle.
- Groyne
- A barrier built out from the beach that traps sediment.
- Hold the line
- Defending the coast where it is now with defences.
- Shoreline Management Plan
- A long-term plan for a stretch of coast that decides how it will be managed.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up saltation and suspension. In saltation, pebbles bounce along the bed. In suspension, fine material is carried in the water.
- Calling longshore drift a landform. It is a process. A spit is the landform it can build.
- Thinking 'hold the line' means doing nothing. It means defending the coast with defences.
- Writing 'it is too expensive' as the whole reason against hard engineering. Add what the cost means for the area.
Exam tip
For a 4-mark explain on a landform or defence, write a chain: waves attack the crack, so it widens into a cave, so the roof is cut through to make an arch. Do not just name the landforms. If a question asks about a sustainable scheme, link it to people, money and the environment, now and in the future.
Free practice questions
7 questions, 12 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which of these landforms is formed mainly by wave erosion?
- Question 2 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
Waves with a strong swash are ___ waves; waves with a strong backwash are ___ waves.
Word bank: tidal · constructive · destructive
- Question 3 · Matching[3 marks]
Match each erosion process to what happens.
- Question 4 · Sort into groups[3 marks]
Sort each landform by how it forms.
Bar
Stack
Spit
- Question 5 · Put in order[1 mark]
Put the stages of stack formation in the correct order, starting with the crack.
Use the arrows to put these in the right order, first at the top.
- 1The crack is enlarged into a cave
- 2The arch roof collapses, leaving a stack
- 3A crack in the headland is attacked by waves
- 4The cave is cut through to form an arch
- Question 6 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
What does a groyne do to sediment moved by longshore drift?
- Question 7 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
What is managed retreat?