Coastal Landscapes

Coastal Landforms Description Report

Part 1: Coastal landscapes

Statement of inquiry: Coastal landscapes are dynamic places and are constantly being changed and shaped by natural geomorphological process by the impact of human activities.

Q1: Describe the plants and animals that can be found in coastal landscapes. Provide 2 examples of each. Include pictures and a few interesting facts about each example.

A1: A coastal landscape is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. There are a variety of different plants and animals that live in coastal landscapes. Many of them rely on the food deposited by the sea. One example of a coastal animal is the starfish. Starfish can only live in seawater, and can survive up to 35 years in the wild.

Sea turtles are very old organisms which have lived on this earth for more than 220 million years. According to Ecowatch, sea turtles can hold their breath for up to 5 hours. To do this, in between every heart beat they slow their heart rate to up to nine minutes, so that they can conserve oxygen. One example of a coastal plant is the spinifex. Spinifex is a hardy grass and can be found in coastal regions across Australia, mainly in poor, dry and less nutritious soils. There are 30 different species of spinifex, and they are the most common type of vegetation in Australia. Spinifex provide good shelter for small reptiles and mammals such as lizards, snakes and the spinifex-hopping mouse. Another example of a coastal plant is the Atriplex, also known as the salt bush. The saltbush grows in the form of a shrub, and develops triangular-shaped leaves. Blooming season for the salt bush is from the middle of spring to the middle of summer. The Atriplex is an important source of food for wildlife such as elk, deer and rabbits.

Q2: What is one natural cause of coastal landscape degradation? Explain how it has caused change to the landscape. Suggest a possible approach to manage the

Write a paragraph explaining the significance in your life.

A3:

Part 2: Coastal landforms

Q1: Choose a coastal landform and write a description of the geomorphological processes involved in the creation of this landform.

A1: My chosen coastal landform is a beach. One geomorphological process that is involved in the creation of this landform is constructive waves. A beach is formed when constructive waves carry sand pebbles and broken coral or shells in their swash and deposit them on the shore. These small and gentle waves do not generate enough energy in their backwash to take the sand back to sea, so it remains as a beach.

Q2: Is the landscape erosional or depositional? Why?

A2: Constructive waves have characteristics that help to create landforms that allow plants and animals to live and thrive. I know that a beach is depositional because “beaches are areas of sand, pebbles and shingle that are formed by deposition produced by wave processes, such as constructive waves.” (Cool Geography 2016)

Q3: Include a drawing that illustrates your chosen landform and the processes involved with its