June 06 Past Paper

2.
a.
i)
Constructive Wave
A constructive wave is a wave that is less than 1m in wave height and
has a wave length of up to 100m. It has a stronger swash than
backwash and therefore deposits material on beaches. It has a long
wave period and a low wave speed.
Destructive Wave
A destructive wave is a wave that is normally upwards of 1m in height
with a wave length of less than 20m. It has a stronger backwash than
swash and therefore takes material away from beaches. It has a short
wave period and a high wave speed.

ii) As a wave approaches a shore its wave base will touch the
shallowest ocean floor first, this increases friction on that side, slows
the wave down and makes it turn that way until the wave is parallel to
the ocean floor, and parallel with the shore. This can be shown in a
diagram by using orthagonals which are lines showing equal wave
energy. Wave refraction makes sure that waves break parallel to the
shore and it can focus the waves onto headlands. See diagram.

b.
i) Sand dunes along this stretch of the coast are dituated on spits only.
Specifically the two largest spits which are the two off Aber Dyfi ad off
Aber Mawddach. Estuarine sands and salt marshes are situated in very
much the same places. Around the spits though there is a small
amount of Estuarine sand around the Aber Dysynni spit and the Aber
Artro area.

ii) A spit is a landform formed by marine deposition. A spit is formed

when longshore drift, which is the movement of material along a coast
by waves, gets to a sudden change in sea depth (normally around an
estuary). This means that the waves loose energy and the material is
deposited next to the shore. Over years enough material is deposited
so that it protrudes above sea level. This is the proximal end of the
spit, as more material is deposited by longshore drift moving it along
the spit moves out across the estuary until it gets to a point where the
estuary current doesn’t allow it to deposit anymore and this is known
as the distal end. At the distal end there may be a recurved end where
a change in wind direction has caused the longshore drift to change
direction and material to be deposited in a new direction curving the
end of the spit. There may be several recurved sections of a spit. A
spit itself is a long stretch of sand stretching partly across and estuary,
the part closest to the shore is called the proximal end while the part
furthest away is called the distal end. There may be part of the spit
that curves back on itself and this is called the recurved end. On top of
the spit there may be sand dunes and behind the spit there may be a
salt marsh.

c.
i) Eustatic sea level change is the change in sea level due to the
amount of water in the oceans being changed, i.e. the water level may
increase as the ice caps melt or decrease as ice caps or glaciers form.
As ice caps melt water is added to the ocean and this increases the sea
level. As ice caps form water is removed from the ocean and the sea
level decreases.

ii) Millions of years ago England was covered in glaciers and huge ice
caps. This slowly depressed England and lowered its level in relation to
the sea. Of course the land was pushing up against the ice caps. As
the ice melted the land kept pushing up. Particularly in the North-West
of England. Today the North-West of England is still pushing up against
the ice-caps that aren’t there anymore, resulting in a rise of its altitude
above sea level. However, this has a pivot effect on the Southeast of
England and is causing it to lower itself, making the sea-level slowly
rise around its shores.

iii) Coral reefs are formed nearly always between the Tropic of Cancer
and the Tropic of Capricorn. In this area water temperature is
relatively warm (20-30oC) and constant. There is also an increase in
the amount of sunlight in this area. Coral reefs form between 1 and
20m below sea-level normally, though they can form below this depth.
An example of this is the Great Barrier reef in Northern Australia. A
type of coral reef is the atoll. An atoll is formed by a fringing reef
forming around an island. As the sea level rises it leaves the island
behind, but the coral keeps increasing upwards. This leaves a ring of
coral islands around a circle of water, or lagoon. This is an Atoll.