Coasts: Hazards & Opportunities (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Geography): Flashcards

It attracts over 15 million visitors annually, generating £1.2 billion for the local economy.

As a major tourist attraction, its footpaths are worn down as people repeatedly walk along them.

Weymouth and Portland serve commercial fishing fleets (crabs, lobsters, other fish).

The closer to the coast the earthquake is, the bigger the impact.

It has 'outstanding universal value', representing 185 million years of Earth's history.

Oysters.

They break a long coastline into manageable sections, helping identify the risks of erosion/land retreat and flooding, and making the cost-to-benefit easier to calculate.

Past records (diaries, newspapers, council records) and modern technology (GIS, satellite and computer monitoring, weather stations).

An area of land allowed to flood before reaching settlements, slowing floodwater by letting the surge's energy dissipate.

An approach using a combination of methods to defend the coast, chosen to best reflect all stakeholders' needs and the value of what is protected.

Pumping or dumping sand and shingle back onto a beach to replace eroded material.

A seawall is a usually concrete, curved sea defence that deflects the power of the waves outwards.

Built at right angles to the shore, they trap material moved by longshore drift.

The angle of a cliff is softened to reduce mass movement.

False.

Gabions (wire cages filled with stone) are the cheapest form of coastal defence, though not as efficient as other methods.

To set out an approach to managing a coastline from flooding and erosional risk, reducing risk to people, settlements, agricultural land and natural environments.

Hold the line, advance the line, managed realignment/retreat, and do nothing.

The do nothing approach is the cheapest but most controversial SMP option, allowing the coast to erode and retreat landward with no investment in protection.

It is the most natural approach and needs no maintenance, and it creates new habitats such as salt marshes.

Advantage: relatively cheap and widens the beach as a natural defence. Disadvantage: must be repeated regularly, which is expensive.

They starve beaches further down the coast of sand.

It does not stop cliff erosion, only slows it down.

Typhoons (South China Sea/west Pacific), hurricanes (Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean) and cyclones (Bay of Bengal/Indian Ocean).

Ocean temperatures above 27°C to a depth of 50–60 metres.

Tropical storms form between 5° and 30° north and south of the equator, but not on the Equator, as there is no Coriolis effect.

The Pacific Ocean.

In the eyewall, with spiralling storm clouds, torrential rainfall and low temperatures.

Category 3, with wind speeds between 178 and 208 km/h (111–129 mph).

A large area of low pressure allows sea level to rise; combined with high winds it forces a large mass of water towards land, eroding beaches and contaminating farmland and freshwater.

It destroyed almost 715,000 hectares of crops, killed over 1,000 people and affected over 15 million people; it was the second-deadliest cyclone ever in the southern hemisphere.

Planning, preparation, protection and prediction.

Planning provides long-term strategies such as building homes away from high-risk coastal areas and enforcing building standards to withstand hurricane-force winds.

By building structures such as seawalls, levees and storm surge barriers.

Meteorological agencies combine satellite imagery, weather models and historical data to forecast a storm's path and strength, so early warning systems allow time for evacuation.

False.

HICs can spend on high-tech prediction and notification systems, whereas MICs and LICs may struggle to afford satellites or to communicate warnings to those affected.

Storms in the western Pacific are the strongest.

Mangroves are nature's own defence, reducing storm surges and coastal erosion when planted.

Nassau County is in northeast Florida, along the Atlantic Ocean. It includes Amelia Island, known for its beaches, dunes and historic towns like Fernandina Beach.

Tropical storms and hurricanes (e.g. Hurricane Matthew 2016, Irma 2017); sea level rise due to global warming; and human activity such as seawall construction, sand mining and removing coastal vegetation.

The sea level along Florida's coast has risen by about 8 inches (20 cm) since 1950, making high tide flooding and erosion worse.

Homes have been left just metres from the ocean after storms washed away protective dunes. After Hurricane Matthew (2016) several oceanfront homes suffered flooding and structural damage, and erosion has lowered property values and raised insurance premiums.

Dunes and beaches that support loggerhead sea turtles (nesting sites), shorebirds such as plovers and terns, and dune vegetation like sea oats. Erosion destroys turtle nesting sites and collapses vegetated dunes, causing a loss of biodiversity.

Sunny day flooding is the flooding of homes, parks and infrastructure that occurs even during regular high tides, without a storm, because wide beaches and strong dunes have been lost.

Between $10 million and $20 million. Over $20 million has been spent on erosion control and beach restoration in the county over the last 10 years.

In 2020, a major project added 700,000 cubic yards of sand, dredged from offshore, to restore dunes and widen the beach. It cost over $10 million, improved turtle nesting habitats and provided a natural buffer against storms.

False.

Although it reduced erosion in that area, it caused increased erosion further down the beach, a process known as 'coastal squeeze'.

Community groups like Keep Nassau Beautiful have planted over 15,000 sea oats near North Beach Park and American Beach since 2019 to stabilise dunes.

Its location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico exposes it to hurricanes every year, especially between June and November. Over 40% of U.S. hurricanes have made landfall in Florida.

Mangroves reduce wind speed and storm surge, acting as a natural hurricane defence system. Each acre can reduce property damage by up to $250,000 during a storm.

In the tropical and subtropical Western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans, between 30°N and 30°S of the Equator.

Temperature, light, water depth, and salinity.

Corals cannot tolerate water temperatures below 18°C, but grow best at 22°C – 25°C.

Zooxanthellae are microscopic algae that live in coral polyp tissue. The coral provides them with a home and materials for photosynthesis; in return they produce food and oxygen and help with waste removal.

A fringing reef is a low, narrow band of coral running parallel to and forming around a landmass. A barrier reef is separated from the coast by wide, deep lagoons, between 500 m and several kilometres offshore.

Tourism. Any contact with the human body is likely to kill coral immediately at the point of contact, and propellers, anchors and diesel spills also cause damage. 58% of all coral reefs are at threat from human activity.

Mainly in sheltered warm tropical waters and coastal swamps within 30°N and 30°S of the equator, where the ideal temperature is around 27°C. They grow in the intertidal zone of the coast.

Mangroves need high humidity of 75–80% and annual rainfall of 1,500–3,000 mm, which can come from rainfall or moisture in the air.

Their tangled roots trap mud, sand and silt, which builds up the intertidal zone into new land, while the mangrove colonises new intertidal areas. Roots also filter out salt, and some are snorkel-like to take in air.

They stabilise shorelines and prevent erosion (buffering storm surges and rising sea levels); they are highly efficient at storing carbon; and they act as nursery grounds for fish, shellfish and sharks. They also filter runoff, protecting coral reefs.

MPAs protect reefs from harmful activities such as destructive fishing, allowing fish populations to recover and improving reef health. The Chagos Marine Reserve in the Indian Ocean is one of the largest, home to over 784 fish species.

Starting in 2011, the Sundarbans Mangrove Reforestation Project in Bangladesh involved planting 16 million mangrove trees, providing flood protection and enriching biodiversity.

True.

In 2015, Sri Lanka became the first nation to legally protect all its mangrove forests.

Off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef supports about 9,000 known species, including 1,500 species of fish and 400 species of coral.

It contributes more than AU$6 billion (about US$4 billion) each year through tourism, recreation and fishing, supporting over 64,000 jobs.

Indigenous Australian groups like the Yirrganydji and Gurang people have cared for the reef for thousands of years, using traditional ecological knowledge.

Coral bleaching is when rising sea temperatures stress corals, causing them to expel the algae (zooxanthellae) that give them colour and nutrients, turning the coral white. If it lasts too long, the coral can die.

The reef experienced back-to-back bleaching events, damaging over 50% of shallow water corals in the northern and central sections.

Runoff carries pesticides, fertilisers and sediments that smother corals, reduce sunlight, and encourage outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish by increasing algae (their food).

This sea star eats coral polyps, and when populations grow too large they cause major destruction, especially in areas already stressed by climate change. Outbreaks have destroyed up to 40% of coral cover in some parts.

Bycatch is when fishers accidentally catch marine animals they didn't mean to, such as turtles, dolphins, seabirds, sharks and juvenile fish. Many are protected or endangered, and some die even if released.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority — the main government agency protecting the reef, using patrol boats, aerial surveillance, heavy fines and satellite tracking to enforce sustainable use.

Green Zones are No-Take Zones where no fishing or collecting is allowed.

The Reef 2050 Plan sets targets to reduce nitrogen by 60% and sediment by 25% by 2025, and brings together governments, communities and industries.

True.

Coral nurseries grow healthy corals which are then planted back onto damaged reefs — known as coral gardening. Scientists are also developing heat-resistant 'super corals'.

It is the largest coral reef system in the world, covering over 344,400 km² — about the size of Japan.

It was established in 1975.

About 33% of the reef is now fully protected from all fishing.