Coasts on the Move · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Coasts That Never Sit Still

Geography · Physical Geography · ages 11-13
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Which rock forms a bay?

    • Tough hard rock
    • Soft fast-wearing rock
    • Baked clay bricks

  2. What is longshore drift?

    • Sand zigzagging along the beach
    • Fish swimming out to sea
    • Cliffs falling straight down

  3. Beaches, spits and bars are built by dropping sand, not by carving rock.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Which pair was carved by erosion?

    • Spit and bar
    • Cave and arch
    • Beach and dune

  5. Sand gathers at the east end of a beach year after year. Why?

    • Wind paints it there
    • Gulls carry it east
    • Drift pushes it east along the shore

  6. A seawall is a hard barrier that blocks wave force to guard homes.

    Circle one:   True   False

  7. A town plants marsh grass before building walls. Why start soft?

    • Roots trap sand and soak wave force cheaply
    • Grass scares the waves away
    • Marsh looks nice in photos

  8. A new wall guards one house but the beach next door melts away. What happened?

    • The sea ran out of sand
    • Tides stopped for a month
    • The wall starved the drift that fed that beach
LightMySky · lightmysky.comW1-mt_IVnXDRpfqE-s1

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Coasts That Never Sit Still W1-mt_IVnXDRpfqE-s1

  1. Soft fast-wearing rock · Soft rock wears back fast into a curved bay.
  2. Sand zigzagging along the beach · Angled waves push sand sideways in a zigzag trip.
  3. True · Slow water drops its load and builds new land.
  4. Cave and arch · Waves chew rock into caves, then arches, then stacks.
  5. Drift pushes it east along the shore · Steady drift feeds one end while starving the other.
  6. True · The wall stands between the waves and the shore behind it.
  7. Roots trap sand and soak wave force cheaply · Plant buffers hold sediment and slow erosion before hard walls go up.
  8. The wall starved the drift that fed that beach · Sand in transit must keep moving, or beaches further along go hungry.
Worksheet · LightMySky