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You are here: Story of the Jurassic Coast > Geomorphology and Natural Processes > Our Dynamic Coast > Glossary of Terms
Anticline: A fold or ridge within a rock strata, with the strata slope downwards from the crest.
Bioerosion: Erosion caused by living things.
Cliffed coast: Steep cliffs (usually formed by sea/wave abrasion) forming the coastline.
Concordant Coastline: A coast made up of the same rock type
Discordant Coastline: A Coast made up of bands of hard and soft rock
Fault: A fracture or fracture zone between two blocks of rock, along which the two blocks move.
Fetch: The length of water over which a wind has blown without obstruction.
Microtidal: Tide range less than 2 metres.
Monocline: A step-like fold or dip in rock strata within an otherwise horizontal or gently dipping sequence.
Orogeny: The formation of a mountain, as a result of continental collision of landmasses (continent - continent collision or ocean-continent collision).
Syncline: A trough-shaped fold in the rock strata.
Strata: layers of sediment / rock of specific character, properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers.
Temperate climate: Environments with moderate rainfall spread across the year or portion of the year with sporadic drought, mild to warm summers and cool to cold winters (Simmons, 2015). There are occasional frosts and snowfalls.
Unconformity: Contact between rock layers that are not in a continuous sequence. An erosional or non-depositional surface separating two geological masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous.
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