Deck 12: Coasts

Question 1

What creates a moraine?

A) Wave-dominated deltas
B) Glaciers
C) Atolls
D) Tombolos

Answer 1

B
When a glacier retreats, they leave small hills and ridges of sediments. These ridges of sediment are called moraines, some of which still stand above water. Information can be found in the section Larger-Scale Features Accumulate on Depositional Coasts.

Question 2

What is usually the highest point on a beach?

A) Backshore
B) Berm crest
C) Beach scarp
D) Longshore bars

Answer 2

B
The berm crest is the peak on the highest peak on the berm. It correlates to the shoreward limit of wave activity during recent high tides. Information can be found in the section Beaches Dominate Depositional Coasts.

Question 3

What is not true of the backshore?

A) It is a relatively inactive zone.
B) It extends to the farthest point that sediment reaches.
C) It extends slightly seaward of the berm crest.
D) It can include dunes and grasses.

Answer 3

C
Backshore is inland from the berm crest. It is a relatively inactive zone which can include dunes and grasses. Information can be found in the section Beaches Dominate Depositional Coasts.

Question 4

Which is a factor that determines the location of a coast?

A) The distribution of sediments
B) The Erosion of land
C) The volume of water in the ocean
D) The impact of wave energy

Question 5

How have parts of Florida's coast been extended?

A) Fringing reefs
B) Mangroves
C) Barrier reefs
D) Atolls

Question 6

Where are deltas common?

A) Low energy shores
B) High energy shores
C) Leading edges of continents
D) At the base of mountains

Question 7

Barrier islands are:

A) perpendicular to the shore.
B) formed when sediments accumulate on submerged rises.
C) broad and offshore
D) connected to the shore.

Question 8

What type of estuary has little vertical mixing?

A) Fjord estuaries
B) Bar-built estuaries
C) Tectonic estuaries
D) Drowned river mouth estuaries

Question 9

Where is the seaward limit of a beach?

A) Longshore bars
B) Berms
C) Where the longshore drift is the strongest
D) Where the sediment stops moving onshore or offshore

Question 10

What marks the limit of rapid marine erosion?

A) Sea cliffs
B) Wave-cut platforms
C) Sea caves
D) Blowholes

Question 11

What is a factor that is instrumental in shaping an erosional coast?

A) Wind-driven grit abrasion
B) Stream erosion
C) Dissolution of acids and bases
D) All of these choices

Question 12

Why do large, broad beaches have gradual slopes?

A) They have coarse particles.
B) There is a minimal transport of sediments back to the ocean.
C) They are not in equilibrium.
D) They have a large area for wave energy to dissipate.

Question 13

Which is not a dominate delta type?

A) River-dominant
B) Tide-dominant
C) Current-dominant
D) Wave-dominant

Question 14

What is a major contributor to coastal erosion jeopardizing human property?

A) The diverting and damming of rivers
B) The dredging of bays
C) The building of breakwaters
D) The creation of jetties

Question 15

Why are erosional coasts prone to become smooth and straight shorelines?

A) Wave refraction
B) Wave energy focuses on headlands
C) Sediments begin to collect at beaches
D) All of these choices

Question 16

What is the global, long term-change to sea level?

A) Active change
B) Temporal change
C) Eustatic change
D) Passive change

Question 17

What is a tombolo?

A) An embayment parallel to the shore
B) Interconnected marshlands in a river
C) A passage to the ocean within a bar
D) A bridge of sediment that connects a sea island to the mainland

Question 18

What is the rate of shore erosion dependent upon?

A) The amount of biological activity
B) The amount of global tectonic activity
C) Exposure to wave activity
D) The amount of sediment accumulation

Question 19

What is a fjord?

A) A broad, protected channel
B) A deep, narrow bay
C) The submerged limit of marine erosion
D) A retreating glacier

Question 20

What is a coastal cell?

A) A section of coastline that has a balance of input and output of sand
B) An active section of coastline
C) A section of coastline that is heavily influenced by an atmospheric cell above
D) A current that conducts sediments towards the shore

Question 21

Coastlines have not come into equilibrium with modern sea levels.

Question 22

The resistance of some rocks to erosion is the reason sea cliffs, stacks, and arches are so uneven in their characteristics.

Question 23

What is responsible for increasing a beach's slope?

A) The swash
B) The backwash
C) The biological activity
D) The berm crest

Question 24

Where does most of the sediment on the Pacific coast originate from?

A) Granite rock
B) Biological productivity
C) Basalt Rock
D) Lava

Question 25

What are the most common, large-scale features on a depositional coast?

A) Barrier islands
B) Moraines
C) Sand spits
D) Deltas

Question 26

An erosional coast that has little tidal variation:

A) can erode quickly because wave action is centralized.
B) can erode slowly because there are no dramatic changes in tide.
C) can erode quickly because it is inundated with large waves.
D) can erode slowly because it becomes protected from large tidal variations.

Question 27

What type of reef is a ring-shaped island of coral?

A) Fringing
B) Barrier
C) Atoll
D) Mangrove

Question 28

Coastal cells in southern California are smaller due to the location on an active, leading edge of a continent.

Question 29

Despite their instability, over 70 barrier islands off the United States have been commercially developed.

Question 30

A beach slope in equilibrium will grow at slower rates than heavy depositional beaches.

Question 31

Coasts refer to an entire area that is affected by biological processes in addition to tectonic activity.

Question 32

Seawalls increase the amount of erosion along the shore because they deflect wave energy.

Question 33

A coastline is covered with sea caves. What kind of beach is this likely to be?

A) A low-energy beach
B) A passive beach
C) An erosional beach
D) A depositional beach

Question 34

What function does a bay mouth bar provide?

A) It protects the area from waves.
B) It protects the area from turbulence.
C) It encourages the accumulation of sediments.
D) All of these choices

Question 35

What is the eventual fate of erosional beaches?

A) The sea cliffs and sea caves overrun the coastline.
B) Marine erosion becomes less of a factor with the age of the beach.
C) They become a depositional beach.
D) sand dune formation

Question 36

The accumulation and distribution of a layer of sediment protects depositional beaches from rapid erosion.

Question 37

Global glaciation events can create variations in local sea level changes.

Question 38

What is the name for a relatively new coast that has processes removing materials?

A) Passive coasts
B) Depositional coasts
C) Active coasts
D) Erosional coasts

Question 39

Salt wedge estuaries form their circulation pattern due to the rapid river outflow mixing with ocean water.

Question 40

How much of the United States coastline is considered to be depositional?

A) 20%
B) 30%
C) 60%
D) 70%

Question 41

Low-energy coastlines are commonly found in areas along eastern edges of continents.

Question 42

How do sediments move along a beach?

Question 43

What are some of the causes of eustatic change to sea level? Include local possibilities of sea level change as well.

Question 44

Deltas are present at every river mouth that brings sediment to a broad continental shelf.

Question 45

The beach scarp is at the low tide mark and signifies the beginning of the offshore zone.

Question 46

Most tropical beaches undergo seasonal transformations.

Question 47

Fringing reefs are separated from land by a lagoon.

Question 48

What are some of the functions of an estuary? Can you hypothesize why it is important to save for animals? What about for humans?

Question 49

What are some of the characteristics of an erosional coast? What are some key factors in the shaping of an erosional coast?

Question 50

Describe the three types of reefs that are formed. Can you hypothesize why they are important?