Key Terms: Physical Landscapes in the UK Flashcards
All 27 cards in this deck
What is meant by an upland area?
An area of high, often steep land, generally above about 200 m, with hard, resistant rock.
e.g. the Lake DistrictWhat is meant by a lowland area?
An area of low, gently sloping or flat land, usually below about 200 m, formed of softer rock.
What does relief mean in geography?
The height and shape of the land surface.
What is a river system (drainage basin)?
A river and all its tributaries, plus the area of land drained by them.
What is a watershed?
The boundary of high land separating one drainage basin from another.
True or false? In the UK, most upland areas are found in the north and west, and most lowland areas in the south and east.
True. A line roughly from the Tees to the Exe separates the upland north/west from the lowland south/east.
What is a constructive wave?
A low, long wave with a strong swash and weak backwash that builds up the beach.
What is a destructive wave?
A tall, steep, frequent wave with a weak swash and strong backwash that erodes the beach.
What is hydraulic power as a type of coastal erosion?
Waves forcing air and water into cracks in the cliff, so pressure breaks the rock apart.
True or false? Coastal abrasion and attrition are the same process.
False. Abrasion is sediment thrown against the cliff wearing it away; attrition is rock fragments hitting each other and becoming smaller and rounder.
What is longshore drift?
The zigzag movement of sediment along a coast, as swash moves it up the beach at the angle of the wind and backwash pulls it straight back down.
What is slumping as a type of mass movement?
Saturated material sliding down a cliff along a curved surface, leaving a rotated, curved cliff face.
What is managed retreat (coastal realignment)?
Allowing low-value land to be deliberately flooded and eroded by the sea, letting the coastline move inland naturally.
What is discharge of a river?
The volume of water passing a point in a river per second, measured in cumecs (m³/s).
What is lag time on a hydrograph?
The time between peak rainfall and peak discharge.
What is traction as a method of river transport?
Large boulders and rocks being rolled along the river bed.
True or false? In saltation, the load is dissolved and carried along in the water.
False. Saltation is small pebbles and sand bouncing along the bed; dissolved load is carried in solution.
What is suspension as a method of river transport?
Fine, light material such as silt and clay being carried along within the water flow.
What is the difference between vertical and lateral erosion in a river?
Vertical erosion deepens the channel (upper course); lateral erosion widens it sideways (middle and lower course).
What is solution as a type of river erosion?
Soluble rocks such as limestone and chalk being dissolved by slightly acidic river water.
What is freeze-thaw weathering?
Water entering cracks in rock, freezing and expanding, repeatedly widening the crack until the rock shatters.
True or false? Freeze-thaw weathering is a type of erosion.
False. It is weathering — rock is broken down in place, with no movement by ice, water or wind.
What is plucking in glacial erosion?
Meltwater freezing onto rock so that, as the glacier moves, it pulls chunks of rock away from the bedrock.
What is till?
Unsorted material of all shapes and sizes deposited directly by a glacier as it melts.
What is outwash?
Sorted sediment, with the smallest material furthest away, deposited by meltwater streams in front of a glacier.
Why do glaciers deposit their sediment?
Because the ice melts, so it no longer has the energy to carry the material.
What is bulldozing by a glacier?
The glacier pushing loose rock and sediment in front of it as it advances.