Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology, 11e (Tarbuck)
Chapter 20 Shorelines
20.1 Multiple-Choice Questions
1) The ________ is the line that marks the contact between land and sea.
A) Beach
B) Shoreline
C) Interface
D) Foreshore
2) What is a berm?
A) Flat-topped platforms of sand adjacent to dunes or cliffs
B) Area landward of the high-tide shoreline
C) Wet, sloping surface of the beach
D) Build-up of sand where a stream meets the sea
3) What is the minimum wind velocity needed to create a wave?
A) 3 km/hr
B) 5 km/hr
C) 8 km/hr
D) 10 km/hr
4) What is the fetch?
A) Ocean currents that move in a direction parallel to the beach
B) The area of quiet water where deposition is taking place
C) A large area of open water over which wind blows to generate waves
D) Erosion of coastal cliffs creating wave-cut benches
5) Under which conditions will a wave be considered a deep-water wave?
A) Wavelength > 1/2 water depth
B) Wave height > water depth
C) Wavelength > 1/2 wave height
D) Water depth > 1/2 wavelength
6) When will a deep-water wave change to a shallow water wave as it approaches shore?
A) Wave period > twice the water depth
B) Wavelength = 1/2 water depth
C) Wavelength = 2 times water depth
D) Wave period > 1/2 water depth
7) What is the wave base?
A) Water depth equal to 1/2 the distance between successive waves
B) Wave height equal to 1/2 the distance between successive waves
C) The minimum elevation of a wave before it will start to curl
D) The distance up the shore where waves can erode
8) If the distance from one wave crest to the next is 10 ft., what will the depth to the wave base
be?
A) 2 ft.
B) 5 ft.
C) 11 ft.
D) 20 ft.
9) ________ is the turbulent water created by breaking waves.
A) Translatory wave motion
B) Refracted wave
C) Tombolo
D) Surf
10) Abrasion will be greatest in which part of the beach environment?
A) Offshore Zone
B) Surf Zone
C) Backshore
D) Berms
11) What term describes the bending of waves?
A) Reflection
B) Oscillation
C) Refraction
D) Frequency
12) ________ form when waves that approach the beach at an angle and produce a net current
direction that is parallel to the shore, resulting in beach drift.
A) Refraction
B) Rip Currents
C) Eddies
D) Longshore currents
13) ________ is a strong current formed by backwash concentrated into small channels and
flows rapidly away from the beach.
A) Refraction
B) Rip Currents
C) Eddies
D) Longshore currents
14) Which of the following will not occur as the result of longshore currents?
A) Building and extension of spits
B) Transportation of sand
C) Fracturing and abrasion of rock
D) Closure of small bays and estuaries
15) Which of the following scenarios is not related to wave refraction?
A) Wave velocity increases in shallow water
B) Sediment deposition will be concentrated in quiet areas such as bays and protected water
C) Erosion is focused on the front and sides of headlands
D) Large quantities of sand are carried from estuaries and deposited on the seacoast side of a
barrier island system
16) How will wave refraction affect the orientations of the crests and troughs of incoming
waves?
A) As the water becomes shallow, the angle between the wave crests/troughs and the shoreline
increases
B) As the water becomes shallow, the angle between the wave crests/troughs and the shoreline
decreases
C) Nothing happens to change the angle regardless of water depth
17) Which of the following locations has a coastline famous for its erosional features?
A) Maine
B) Florida
C) North Carolina
D) Louisiana
18) Which of the following locations has a coastline famous for its depositional features?
A) Washington State
B) Massachusetts
C) Oregon
D) North Carolina
19) A ________ is a shoreline stabilization feature that protects shorelines from the pounding of
waves by creating an area of quiet water behind it.
A) Groin
B) Seawall
C) Breakwater
D) Jetty
20) Which of the following deposition/erosion scenarios will develop when a groin is
constructed on the beach?
A) Erosion on upcurrent and downcurrent sides
B) Erosion on upcurrent side and deposition on downcurrent side
C) Deposition on upcurrent and downcurrent sides
D) Deposition on upcurrent side and erosion on downcurrent side
21) Which beach stabilization technique requires dumping many truckloads of sand on a beach to
build it up?
A) Beach Nourishment
B) Relocation
C) Groins
D) Seawalls
22) Which of the following is an artificial coastal feature?
A) Baymouth bar
B) Breakwater
C) Spit
D) Tombolo
23) Which of the following areas is paralleled by a line of barrier islands?
A) Texas
B) Florida
C) Oregon
D) Mississippi
24) Which of the following is a coastal feature that is not as likely to be found along a passive
continental margin?
A) Tombolo
B) Spit
C) Sea Cave
D) Baymouth Bar
25) Which of the following is a coastal feature that is not as likely to be found along an active
continental margin?
A) Sea Stack
B) Wave-Cut Platform
C) Sea Cave
D) Baymouth Bar
26) What system of measurement is used to categorize the strength of a hurricane?
A) Richter Scale
B) Mercalli Scale
C) Fujita Scale
D) Saffir-Simpson Scale
27) Which of the following statements about coastal deltas is incorrect?
A) Sea level rise will protect coastal deltas
B) Artificial levees prevent sediment from being deposited in delta wetlands
C) Compaction of previously deposited sediments will result in the subsidence of deltas
D) Human construction and river management has reduced the amount of sediment available for
rivers to transport to deltas
28) The erosional retreat of a coastal cliff will lead to the enlargement of a ________.
A) Wave-cut arch
B) Wave-cut beach
C) Wave-cut stack
D) Wave-cut platform
29) Which one of the following would not result because of the presence of a breakwater?
A) Storm waves breaking on the seaward side of the structure
B) Increase beach erosion on either side of the breakwater
C) Quiet water on the landward side of the breakwater, resulting in deposition
D) Increase of rip currents and longshore currents because of interference from the structure
30) What geologic process is creating an emergent coastline in Lake Michigan?
A) Lake levels are falling
B) Post-glacial isostatic rebound
C) Subsidence of the land surface
31) Which of the following coastal features is not a characteristic of a submergent coastline?
A) Barrier islands
B) Estuaries
C) Wave-cut platform
D) Irregular coastlines
32) How has sea level changed over the last few thousand years?
A) It has risen 1 cm per millennium
B) It has remain constant
C) It has fallen 25 cm per century
D) It has risen about 10 cm per century
33) What generates tides on the earth?
A) Gravitational repulsion of the sun
B) Melting of ice sheets
C) Gravitational attraction of the moon
D) Upwelling of methane gas
20.2 True/False Questions
1) The shoreline represents an interface between the land, sea, and air.
2) Coastal areas undergo some of the most rapid and dynamic change due to their constant
contact with the water.
3) Bedrock cliffs are more susceptible to wave attack because the sediments are unable to
reorganize themselves when pressured by incoming waves.
4) Beaches are areas where sediment has accumulated on shore.
5) Due to the crashing of waves and the backwash of water from shore, beaches can be thought
of as areas where material is in transit.
6) Black sand beaches in Hawaii were created by the erosion and deposition of coral.
7) A large wave generated by an earthquake off the coast of Chile can travel across the Pacific
Ocean to reach the shores of Alaska.
8) Waves do most of their erosive work during calm weather.
9) Rip currents are the result of tidal variations.
10) The effect of the Moon on tides is twice that of the Sun.
11) If a shoreline remains stable over time, an irregular coast will be transformed into a
smoother, straighter coast.
12) Any hard stabilization method of protecting beaches from erosion is ultimately a form of
temporary protection.
13) Barrier islands are more common along the Atlantic Coast than the Pacific Coast.
14) Barrier islands can be protected from storms by the construction of buildings, which provide
weight to hold the sand in place.
15) Most hurricanes form poleward of 20° latitude.
16) Sea levels have been rising over the last several thousand years because of the melting of
Pleistocene ice sheets, which has generated submergent coastlines.
17) Because of gravitational influence, the rotation of the earth actually speeds up a little each
year.
20.3 Short Answer Questions
1) As the quantity of energy transferred to the wave increases, what will happen to the height and
the steepness of the wave?
2) As a scuba diver, why would knowing the depth of the wave base be important?
3) Defined by breaking waves in the surf zone, which two terms describe the directions of water
movement associated with a wave breaking on the beach?
4) Circle the correct answer: Oscillatory waves will be found in (deep / shallow) water.
5) Circle the correct answer: Translatory waves will be found in (deep / shallow) water.
6) If you happen to be caught in a rip current, what is the best way to get to safety?
7) What tectonic process is partially responsible for the rocky, rugged coastline along the Pacific
Northwest?
8) Hurricanes get their energy from ________ water.
9) Which central part of a hurricane is characterized by a calm zone where precipitation and
winds cease?
10) What prevents hurricanes from developing in the band five degrees on either side of the
Equator?
11) What are the three categories of damage caused by hurricanes?
12) What is the difference between the eye and eye wall of a hurricane?
13) Circle the correct answer: A(n) (emergent / submergent) coast will be created when sea
level rises or the land subsides.
14) Circle the correct answer: A(n) (emergent / submergent) coast will be created when sea
level falls or the land is uplifted.
15) Based on what you know about future climate change in the next century, would you expect
to see more emergent coastlines or submergent coastlines? Why?
20.4 Matching Questions
Match the coastal term to the correct definition.
A) Area of ocean-related features from the water inland
B) Area from lowest tide level to highest elevation affected by storm waves
C) Between low-tide mark and where waves break at low tide
D) Marks the seaward edge of the coast
1) Shore
Diff: 1
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge
Global Sci Out: 7
Section: 20.1 – The Shoreline: A Dynamic Interface
Focus/Concepts: 20.1
Earth Science LO: 4.9 – Shorelines move back and forth across continents, depositing sediments
that become the surface rocks of the land.
2) Coast
Diff: 1
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge
Global Sci Out: 7
Section: 20.1 – The Shoreline: A Dynamic Interface
Focus/Concepts: 20.1
Earth Science LO: 4.9 – Shorelines move back and forth across continents, depositing sediments
that become the surface rocks of the land.
3) Nearshore
Diff: 1
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge
Global Sci Out: 7
Section: 20.1 – The Shoreline: A Dynamic Interface
Focus/Concepts: 20.1
Earth Science LO: 4.9 – Shorelines move back and forth across continents, depositing sediments
that become the surface rocks of the land.
4) Coastline
Diff: 1
Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge
Global Sci Out: 7
Section: 20.1 – The Shoreline: A Dynamic Interface
Focus/Concepts: 20.1
Earth Science LO: 4.9 – Shorelines move back and forth across continents, depositing sediments
that become the surface rocks of the land.