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A level geography coasts student workbook
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AQA A LEVEL GEOGRAPHYPAPER 1 – Coasts
May 2024
Student revision
workbook
,Specification content:
,1. Coasts as natural systems
Specification content:
a) Systems in physical geography
Systems are made up of Stores, Flows, Boundaries, Inputs and Outputs.
Task - Match up the different elements of a system to their descriptions.
Element of a system Description
Flows or transfers when matter or energy (e.g. solar
energy) is added to the system.
Inputs when matter or energy moves from
one store to another.
Stores/ Components when matter or energy leaves the
system.
Outputs where matter or energy builds up.
Boundaries The limits of the system
Task – How is a drainage basin an example of a natural system? Give examples of stores,
flows, boundaries, inputs and outputs.
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Systems can be open or closed.
Task - Complete the table below showing the differences between the two.
Features of an open system Features of a closed system
, b) Coasts as natural systems
• Coasts are systems. This means they have inputs, outputs, flows and stores of SEDIMENT
and ENERGY.
• However, it is specifically an open system. This means that inputs originate from outside
the system (such as sediment carried into the coastal zone by rivers) and outputs to other
natural systems (such as eroded rock material transported offshore to the ocean).
Task – Give examples of inputs, flows, stores and outputs to show that coasts are a natural
system.
Coastal systems are generally in dynamic equilibrium – inputs and outputs are generally
balanced. For example, when constructive waves build up a beach, the beach becomes
steeper. This encourages the formation of destructive waves that plunge onto the beach
(rather than surge up the beach). These destructive waves then remove sediment from the
beach and reduce the gradient, encouraging the waves to become more constructive. This is
an example of a dynamic equilibrium between wave type and the angle of the beach.
However, changes to either the input or output can result in significant changes to the system.
If the equilibrium is upset then there can be two scenarios…
• Positive feedback – where a flow/transfer leads to increase or growth (moving away from
dynamic equilibrium)
• Negative feedback- where a flow/transfer leads to decrease or decline (moving back to
dynamic equilibrium)
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