COASTAL GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES

Oceans are bodies of dynamic water masses. Sea waves are powerful geological agents, acting
from the shorelines to the coastal belts.
Vertical and horizontal movements of water continue to happen both at the surface and at depth at
all times. Over a period of time, wave action in the surf zone will tend to plane off the entire zone.
This process is known as marine planation. This is a slow process.
There are so many other features formed along the coastline due to various hydrodynamic actions
of waves on the sea side and aerodynamic actions wind on the landside. Sea waves can erode,
transport and deposit the marine sediments based on various factors and processes.
Erosion, transportation and deposition happen on both sides of the shoreline.
Coastal rocks like cliffs are also subjected to wave actions.
Sea cliffs are very unique features seen in some places.
Processes of coastal erosion:
The combined effect of waves, currents and tides result in a variety of gradational processes acting
in the coastal zone. Coastal erosion happens in the form of
a) hydraulic action,
b) corrosion (or) abrasion,
c) attrition,
d) corrosion (or) solution and
e) water pressure.
Hydraulic action is the impact of moving water on the coastal rocks. It is caused by the direct
impact of waves on the coasts. Enormous pressures can build as water and air are compressed into
the rock fractures.
The most important one is abrasion. Abrasion (or) corrosion is a kind of erosion happening with
the help of tools of erosion. In water suspension coarse sands, pebbles, cobbles and boulders are
used by the waves to attack the coastal rocks.
Attrition is a process in which mechanical tear and wear can break any rock mass into
fragments.Mutual collision effected by backwash and rip currents are powerful tools of coastal
erosion.
Corrosion (or) Solution is the chemical alteration of rocks which are soluble and due to their
contact with the seawater. Solution is locally important especially where soluble rock is exposed
along the shore.Due to periodic wetting and drying a wide range of chemical processes happen on
the coastal rocks which lead to both physical disintegration and chemical decomposition.
Alternate freeze and thaw can also make these rocks to be easily attacked by the waves. A good
number of coastal features are formed by the action of these sea waves.
Coastal sediments are subject to multiple episodes of erosion, transportation and deposition,
though a net seaward transport takes place on a global scale. The deep ocean floor becomes the
resting place for terrestrial sediment eroded from the land.
Beach drifting transports sand grains along the beach as waves strike the shore at an oblique angle.
Sediment is carried landward when water rushes across the beach as swash. Sediment is carried
back toward the ocean as backwash. The continual up rush and backwash carries sand in a zig-zag
like movement along the shore.
EROSIONAL LANDFORMS
Landforms of coastal regions are classified into two major groups as erosional landforms and
depositional landforms.
The notable erosional landforms of the coasts are:
a) Sea cliffs
b) Sea caves
c) Sea Arches
d) Sea stacks
e) Wave-cut notches
f) Wave-built terraces.
The most widespread landforms of erosional coasts are sea cliffs. Wave erosion undercuts steep
shorelines creating coastal cliffs.
A sea cliff is a vertical precipice created by waves crashing directly on a steeply inclined slope.
These very steep to vertical bedrock cliffs range from only a few metres high to hundreds of
metres above sea level. Their vertical nature is the result of wave-induced erosion near sea level
and the subsequent collapse of rocks at higher elevation.
Hydraulic action, abrasion, and chemical solution all work to cut a notch at the high water level
near the base of the cliff.
Constant undercutting and erosion causes the cliffs to retreat landward.
Sea caves form along lines of weakness in cohesive but well-jointed bedrock. Sea caves are
prominent headlands where wave refraction attacks the shore.
A sea arch forms when sea caves merge from opposite sides of a headland. If the arch collapses, a
pillar of rock remains behind as a sea stack.
Seaward of the retreating cliffs, wave erosion forms a broad erosional platform called a wave-cut
bench or wave-cut platform. After the constant grinding and battering, eroded material is
transported to adjacent bays to become beaches or seaward coming to rest as a wave-built terrace.
DEPOSITIONAL LANDFORMS
The notable depositional coastal landforms are:
a) Beaches
b) Spits and bars
c) Tombolo
d) Barrier islands
e) Mud Flats.
Beaches:
A beach is an area of sediment accumulation. They are exposed to wave action along the coast.
Beaches morphology changes from season to season.
Spits and bars
A sand spit is one of the most common coastal landforms. A sand spit is a linear accumulation of
sediment that is attached to land at one end. Sand carried parallel to shore by longshore drift may
eventually extend across a bay or between headlands especially where water is relatively calm.
Spits are typically elongated, narrow features built to several meters high above sea level by the
action of wind and waves.
Spits often form when wave energy decreases as a result of wave refraction in a bay. When
thewave energy is dissipated, it will cause the sediment to accumulate, due to the loss of ability to
transport the sediments by water.
The term bar refers to a long narrow sand embankment formed by wave action. Littoral drift from
an island may form a tombolo, which is a sand bar connecting the island with the mainland.
Tombolo:
A tombolo is a depositional landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow
piece of land such as a spit or bar. Tombolos are formed by wave refraction.
Coastlines paralleled by offshore narrow strips of sand dunes, salt marshes and beaches are known
as barrier islands. A variety of barrier-related features could be seen along the shoreline.
Barrier spits and islands:
Barriers that connect headlands together along the outer reaches of an embayment are called
baymouth barriers.
Barrier spits are beaches that are attached at one end to their source of sediment.
Mud flats:
Mud flats are formed due to the action of tidal currents. They contain silt and clays. They are
exposed during low tides and are covered during high tides. In some of the exposed mud flats,
after a full retreat of a sea level, plants grow in these mudflats forming salt marshes.
In addition to these some other features are also located in the coastal areas:
Estuaries :
An estuary is a coastal wetland where freshwater from runoff of a river and saltwater from tides of
the seas and oceans mix together. Most of the large rivers in the world do not empty their waters
abruptly into the seas. They merge with the sea in a transitional basin-like area near their mouths
called as an estuary.
Deltas
These are bodies of sediments deposited by the rivers when they confluence with the seas. Deltas
build outward from the shoreline at river mouths. There are three kinds of deltas as:
a) Wave-dominated Deltas
b) Tide-dominated Deltas
c) River-dominated Deltas.