roducing the coast © The coast is a zone where the land meets the sea. > The coastline (the outline of the edge of the land ‘on a map) follows the mean high water mark ona lowland coast, and the foot of cliffs on a steeply sloping coast. The sea rises to high tide (high water mark) and falls to low tide (low water mark) normally twice a day. This results in the high and low water marks. This tidal range varies both from coast to coast and with the time of year. The area between the lowest tide level and the highest point reached by storm wavesis known as the shore. The tide’ only importance in the formation of coastal landforms is in controlling how high and low the waves can work. It is the action of waves that produces the coastal features. Explaining waves Freak waves can be caused by movements of the seabed during earthquakes, or by very large ships passing too quickly near the coast, but most waves result from. friction between the wind and the surface of the sea. This causes part of the sea to rise at right angles to the wind, Seen from above, the resulting wave is long and narrow. The wave form increases in height as tis driven forward by the wind. The size of a wave depends on: the wind speed the length of time during which the wind blows in the same direction the length of sea over which the wind blows (the fetch of the wave). The greater these factors are, the bigger the wave. Hawaii is famous for its big waves - some are more than 20 metres high. Sometimes they are formed by storms that occur far away from where the waves eventually breakon to the shore. An example is the North Pacific Swell that reaches Hawaii on some winter days. The wind in Hawaii might be very light when these large waves arrive at its coast. Fig.6. Influences on the waves that reach HawaiiA boat with its engine switched off bobs up and down asawave passes beneath it -but it doesnot move towards the shore. This is because only the wave form moves beneath it (ee Fig. 6.2): © Bach water particle moves in a vertical circle to form the wave > As water rises, it forms the wave crest. As it falls, it forms the wave trough. Wave crest Wave length ‘The wave length is the distance between two wave crests © The wave height is the difference between the height of a wave crest and the adjacent wave trough. Water particles can no longer move in acircular manner when the wave reaches shallow water, so the wave breaks Fig. 6.2. The terms used to Wave crest scribe waves Key —* Movement of incvidual water particles at sea, the wind tugs ‘a wave moves into at the surface of the water, shallow water near the ‘causing the wave shape coast, itis distorted until to! it ‘breaks’. Fig. 6.3 The effect on waves of entering shallow water Marine processes - work carried out by movements of the sea Why do some waves erode and others deposit material? Destructive waves Breaking wave Waves that have a weak swash and Waves ok plunges a strong backwash pull sand and pole tes downwards Steep pebbles back down the beach when Go Cea ‘the water retreats, They are called destructive waves, because they remove material from the beach. They are often steep high waves that are close together and crash down on to the beach. Ifyou were counting tem, they would be comingin very quickly = 10 to 15 every minute, Another name for them is ‘plunging waves’. Fig. 64a Destructive waves - erosion