Senior High School

NOT

Earth and Life

Science
Quarter 1 - Module 8
Marine and Coastal Processes and Their Effects

Department of Education ● Republic of the Philippines

 What I Know

Pretest
Instruction: Read and answer the following questions. Encircle the correct answer.

1. Which of the following is a correct definition of coastal zone?

A. It is where people spend their vacation.
B. It is where destructive waves are common.
C. It is where land meets the sea.
D. It is where sharks and whales are observed.

2. Which of the following is NOT an example of the coastal processes?

A. Deposition
B. Erosion
C. Plucking
D. Transportation

3. Which of the following are examples of coastal erosion?

A. Corrasion, abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition and suspension.
B. Corrasion, abrasion, wave action, attrition and corrosion/solution
C. Corrasion, abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition and corrosion/solution
D. Corrasion, abrasion, hydraulic action, attrition and traction

4. Which type of coastal erosion involves destructive waves picking up beach material
hurling them at the base of a cliff?
A. Corrasion
B. Hydraulic action
C. Attrition
D. Abrasion

5. It’s also known as the sandpaper effect that involves breaking waves containing sand
and bigger fragments eroding the base of a cliff.
A. Corrasion
B. Hydraulic action
C. Attrition
D. Abrasion

6. Kind of coastal erosion that involves waves hitting the bottom of the cliff causing air to
be compressed in cracks, joints and folds in bedding planes leading to repeated changes
in air pressure. As air rushes out of the cliff when the wave retreats it resulting to an
explosive effect as pressure is released. This process is supported further by the
weakening effect of weathering. The material breaks off the cliffs and sometimes in huge
chunks.
A. Corrasion
B. Hydraulic action
C. Attrition
D. Abrasion

7. Which type of coastal erosion occurs when waves cause rocks and pebbles to bump
into each other and break up?
A. Corrasion
B. Hydraulic action
C. Attrition
D. Abrasion

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8. Which type of coastal erosion occurs when certain types of cliff erode as a result of
weak acids in the sea?
A. Corrasion/ solution
B. Hydraulic action
C. Corrasion
D. Abrasion

9. Which of the following is NOT a factor that affects rates of coastal erosion?
A. Geology
B. Strong winds blowing for a long time creating destructive waves
C. The greenhouse effect
D. Wave fetch

10. How are waves created?

A. It is created by the rain
B. It is created by water cycle
C. It is created by people in ships
D. It is created by the wind blowing over the surface of the sea

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 Marine and Coastal Processes
Lesson and Their Effects
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What I Need to Know

Coastal processes occur where waves break on the shore not only on ocean or sea coasts
but also to the other water systems like lakes and ponds. A sea can never be considered as such
without waves. Waves are formed caused by the winds and controlled by wind speed. Main
characteristics of waves are height (amplitude), wavelength, and wave period (frequency). Waves’
motion dies out with depth. There are two types of waves- the constructive and the destructive
wave. Constructive waves are small in height, has a gentle angle and has lesser energy while
destructive waves are large in height, steeper waves, and lots of energy.
We cannot deny that we love to have our vacation on beaches where we feel the heat of
the sun, soft sand dunes, and enjoying the big waves while surfing. The sea is not just all about
leisure but also it involves perfect creation and transformation of the coastal zone.
This module will introduce you the coastal processes that are caused by marine
processes. This module will also allow you to understand how such coastal formations have been
formed creatively.

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 What’s New

Activity 1: Find Me!

Find and encircle each of the words from the list on the right side. Words may appear
horizontally, vertically or diagonally. After finding the words, give a short definition of
each of these words below.

C W E R I P P H I H J P U O N L R Z
C O U L U J U G S E D X W T O I S M
. BACKWASH
O S A Y I L P A P Z O Y V N U H V J
BEACH
A T P S H F W Z K L R H G K Z P H G BEACHPROFILE
S F X G T K O R C C R S W J T M P G COAST
T M P N C A U R Z T H D A K K N X V COASTALDEPOSITION
A D R A V E L Z P O W G F J L M Y C COASTALEROSION
L R B Y G L B D R H M N Y T D Y Z E LONGSHOREDRIFT
E D V R V Z Q E E M C W M E S Q H C SEALEVELRISE
R X F W Q A D Q T P Z A G J W H B N SUBMERGENCE
O W C U Y R I O V Q O D E U A Q F E SWASH
S Q W S I A I T Q F H S L B S A O G
I V I F C O A S T C K N I A H B W R
O J T V Y P G B K V G P R T B Q M E
N E S I R L E V E L A E S Z I T C M
P I V V X F X S H A K R J K D O Q B
K Z L P Y I X C H X C I M E J E N U
R R R S W D S T P O U H O E X T Z S
What Is It

What is It

The two kinds of waves were previously introduced including its

characteristics. These waves also include swash and backwash. Swash is when
rushed up the beach after a powerful wave breaks while backwash is the one that returns
to the sea and is less powerful. There is a strong swash and a weak backwash in the
constructive wave while a weak swash and strong backwash happens during the
destructive wave. It is during the destructive waves where the beach is scoured and
degraded as the strong backwash pulls sand and shingle back down the beach. The
swash and backwash are also some factors of beautiful formations of the sand in the
beaches.

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 Years before, people started building different coastal protections to protect the
lives of the people in land. Later in this module we will be discussing about the barrier
islands which are important coastal formations to at least lessen the destruction of the
inland caused by some natural phenomena.
During low tide, winds pickup drying sand
and blow it towards the land in order to form
sand dunes. Sand dunes help maintain
the barrier islands. When major storms or
hurricanes occur, it washes both sand and
the seawater landward into lagoons and
sweard from barrier islands then sand
moves back up on to the higher beach in
milder weather and the wind blows some dry sand into the dunes again. Unfortunately,
most dunes along the coasts were flattened for economical purposes like building roads,
parking areas, and houses, or to improve views of the sea.
When people start to modify the dunes of the sea, it actually upsets the equilibrium
of sand movement. It may have improve the views but with each storm a beach gets
closer until it gets too good and houses are the next to go. Bigger storm waves will impact
such structures because any protective dunes will have long when disappeared. Since
waves are one of the most powerful processes shaping the coast, sand dunes and other
natural sand formations should not be transformed much for it to maintain the equilibrium.
Activity 2: Tell me the Problem

Given the pictures below, write down all your observations and opinions on the formation

of the coast and the development of the human did to protect the area.

Observation/Opinion:

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 What’s More

There are different processes of erosion that also happens not only in land but

also in the coastal zones. The following are the processes of erosion.

Table 1: Coastal Processes

Coastal Processes Definition

Hydraulic Action Includes the power of water

Rocks and sand that are thrown against

Abrasion
the coast

Trapped in small crevices in the rock by

Compressed Air waves which causes minute explosions

which eventually shatter the rock.

Attrition Rocks wearing off each other

Salts in seawater dissolving rock

Solution
especially the sedimentary rocks

Waves that bend on contact with coast,

Wave refraction
concentrating its effects in certain areas.

Sometimes we tend to ask how little islands near the coasts were formed which

cannot just be made by humans. The reasons of these coastal landforms may be

erosional coast, transportational coast or depositional coast. The processes of deposition

and transport basically consider the conditions like constructive waves, shelter from

strong winds/currents and gently sloping beaches to reduce wave energy. For transport,

the main process is longshore drift or littoral drift.

LONGSHORE DRIFT

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Coastal Landforms
Depositional Features Dominated by deposition of sediments and
re-working by long shore drift. Whatever
gets eroded from an area of the coast will
eventually get deposited in another area.
Coastal deposition features are often the
important economic benefits such as
tourism.
Example
 Spits It is an extended stretch of beach material
that projects out to sea and is joined to
mainland at one end.

 Barrier Islands Coastal plains that are gently slipping, with

a sandy bottom that is steeper than the
coastal plain, so it tops off landward in a
ridge called barrier island, or barrier bar.
Offshore barrier islands are a part of the
active beach, built up by the waves and
constantly shifting by wave and storm
action. Offshore barrier islands are
typically 0.4 to 4 km wind and stand less
than 3 above sea level.
 Deltas These are wetlands that are formed from
where rivers empty their water and
sediments into another body of water such
as an ocean, lake or another river.
 Beaches Beaches as we know are not only formed
from sand but also can be made of mud,
shingle and other stones but these kind of
beaches are not so attractive to tourists. In
order to form a beach, it needs a sheltered
area to trap sediments, long shore drift,
and constructive waves to deposit beach
materials.

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 What’s More

Activity 3: Barrier Islands

Though barrier islands, coastlines and other inland towns are being protected from natural
phenomena. Provide your own advantage and disadvantages of barrier islands.

ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE

Continuation…
Erosional Features These are caused by waves that attach
the base of the cliff through the processes
of abrasion, corrosion, hydraulic action
and attrition. As times go by, the cliff will
be undercut and a wave-cut notch is
formed and eventually the cliff becomes
unstable which will result collapses.
Furthermore, the cliff retreat will form a
wave-cut platform.
Examples
 Sea Caves It results where an easily eroded piece of
rock is removed by such processes.
 Sea Arch Results when a sea cave or two goes all
the way through.
 Sea stacks If the sea arch collapses, the seaward part
stands still and is stack. Sea stacks are
erosional remnants with a wave cutting
through.
 Sea stumps These are formed through coastal erosion
of headlands. The cliffs of the headlands
will contain cracks and become weak and
are prone to erosion from waves.
 Bays and headlands Body of water that is mostly surrounded by
land (usually saltwater or freshwater).
Headlands are surrounded by water on the
sides and is characterized by breaking
waves, rocky shores and steep cliffs.
 Cliffs and Wavecut Platforms Cliffs are made from more resistant rock
while wave-cut platform is a wide sloping
surface found at the base of the cliff.

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 What’s More

Activity 4: Picture Analysis

With the concept given above, let us now test your comprehension through the activity

below. Identify the type of coastal landforms are shown in the picture.

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 What’s New

Activity 4: Agent of Coastal Change

Previously we have learned that beaches are depositional features that are

benefited by humans economically. In order to protect the inland communities, people

develop different interventions and mitigation of coastal processes. List at least 8 different

human interventions or beach protection structures initiated by humans to protect the

people and communities inland. Provide also a short definition of each of these

inteventions.

Intervention Definition

Eg. Sea Walls

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

What Have I Learned

Activity 5: Synthesize your Learning

Answer the following questions based on your learning. Be brief and concise.

1. From your own point of view, make a list of the benefits we gain from beaches.

a.

b.

c.

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2. From the different human intervention on protecting the coast, which of these are more

likely the most effective way to protect the inland communities especially during calamities

like typhoons that cause storm surge? Choose only two (2).

a.

b.

3. You plan to spend your summer vacation at Siargao Island and also wanted to

experience island and cave hopping at Sohoton. What are the ways you need to prepare

ahead for you to be safe during your trip?

a.

b.

c.

d.

What Can I Do

Activity 6: Slogan Making on Coastal Cleanliness

Pollution is one of the most coastal problems in the Philippines and one of the

most difficult to solve because of continuous disposal of waste from the houses near

the coast and the factories near the area. The picture below is an example of a coast with

a sea wall that protects the community inland but much polluted.

Your activity is to take a picture, draw or cut out (from newspapers) of the different

coastal problems near your area. Describe the picture and write some ways on how to

improve coastal cleanliness. Below the picture, make also a slogan that convince the

people to maintain coastal cleanliness.

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