Coastal processes, patterns and

landforms
 Today we are going to learn:
•What waves are. 
•About the different factors
that affect waves.
•About the different types of waves –
constructive/destructive.
•About the different coastal
 Waves:
The factors
controlling the
height and
strength of
waves are:
•Wind
speed.
 Waves:
• The wind blowing across the surface of the
sea creates waves. The ability of waves to
shape the coast is influenced by the strength
of the wind and the length of time it blows.
• If a gentle breeze blows, wavelets appear. If
the breeze stops, so do the waves.
• Stronger winds and storms out at sea
produce larger waves which may last for
 Waves:
• The size of waves is affected by the fetch, which
is the distance a wave has travelled before it
reaches land.
• Large fetches produce bigger waves because the
wind has had longer to blow over the surface of
the sea, forming bigger swells. E.g. the west
coast of Ireland.
• When waves break, water rushes up the beach.
 Constructive waves:
• Constructive waves build up our coastline.
• Some waves have a powerful swash that can carry
debris up the beach but have little energy in the
backwash to drag the debris away again.
• As a result, deposition occurs.
• These types of waves are called constructive waves.
• A wide, sandy beach is the best evidence of deposition
by constructive waves. Constructive waves break some
distance from the shore, and the surf rolls in gently up
 Destructive waves:
• Destructive waves are large, powerful waves that are
generated during high winds or storms.
• They have a high wave frequency with more than 10
per minute breaking on the shore. They break rapidly
and plunge almost vertically onto the shore.
• As the wave does not lose much energy when it
breaks, it crashes against the coastline,
removing weakened rock.
• The backwash is much stronger than the swash,
meaning that material is removed from the shore and
 Wave refraction:
• As waves approach the shore, friction with the
seabed causes them to bend and change
direction. This is known as wave refraction.
• Sections of waves in shallow water begin to drag
against the ocean floor, causing the waves to
slow down. Sections of the same waves in deeper
water move on at the normal speed. This causes
the waves to bend inward.
• The most shallow water tends to be close to
 Processes of Coastal erosion:
• Coastal erosion is caused by destructive waves hitting off the
coastline.
• The rate of erosion depends on the type of coastline
being eroded and the strength of the waves attacking them.
• The main processes of coastal erosion are:
1. Hydraulic action.
2. Abrasion.
3. Air Compression.
4. Attrition.
5. Solution.
 Hydraulic action:
•This is the force of moving water.
•Tonnes of water in each wave wear the
land away with crushing force.
•Hydraulic action is most effective on
soft coastlines such as Louth, Dublin
and Wexford.
 Abrasion:
•This is the scraping away of the
coastline as waves throw stones
and sand against the coast.
•Abrasion is most effective at
high tide and during storms.
 Air compression:
•Air compression occurs when waves break
against the coast.
•Air gets trapped and compressed in small
cracks in rocks.
•When the wave moves away, the air is
released. This causes expansion and
compression in the rock which then shatters.
 Attrition:
•This is when the load carried by the waves is
worn down by its constant rolling and
knocking together.
•This is why beach pebbles are usually well
rounded.
•Eventually all beach stones will be worn down
to sand-grain size by attrition. 
 Solution:
•Solution occurs when salts in
sea water dissolve rock by
chemical means.
•Chalk and limestone coasts are
most easily eroded this way.
 Processes of marine deposition:
• Deposition occurs when the sea loses its
energy. Waves, tides and local currents combine to
drop sand at particular locations. 
• The conditions required for deposition are:
1. Gently sloping beaches which reduce wave energy.
2. Shelter from strong winds and currents creating
calmer seas.
3. Constructive waves allowing sand to settle on the
beach.
 Processes of coastal transport:
•Huge amounts of material are carried
along our coastlines each day.
•Waves and currents are constantly
moving sand along the coast due to a
process called longshore drift.
 Longshore drift:
• This is the movement of material along the coast.
• When waves approach the shore, friction causes
them to slow down and break onto the shore.
• As they break up onto the shore, the swash carries
pebbles and other material up along the beach.
• The water then flows back down the shore to the
sea, dragging some of the material with it.
 Longshore drift:
• The direction that waves hit the coast at is determined
by the direction of the wind.
• Sometimes the direction of the wind causes the waves
to flow onto the beach at a sharp angle. This means the
swash from the breaking waves pushes the sediment
up along the beach at an angle.
• The backwash flows back to sea at a 90° angle. As it
does, it drags some of the material down along the
shore once again.
 Homework:

Read pages 166 – 170 of your textbook.

Answer questions 1-6 on page 188 of your textbook.