Coastal

Landforms
 Basic Concepts
1. Sea level changes repeatedly
• 422 ft. eustatic rise since 18,000
years ago
• Eustatic change (as opposed to
local change) results in an
alteration to the global sea
levels
• Specific landscapes submergent
or emergent depending on
tectonic change
2. Waves and resultant currents erode,
transport, and deposit sediment load
• rocky headlands
• beaches
3. Tides affect all coastal life but have
little topographic effect
• tidal bores
 Eustatic Change and Submergent
vs. Emergent Coastlines
• During ice ages sea level sinks as
ocean water compresses and more
water is tied up in glaciers
• During interglacial periods sea level
rises, flooding many former river
valleys creating bays and estuaries
• In areas with rapid tectonic uplift
emergent cliffs common and bays rare
 Submergent
Coastlines
Sea level rise inundated
many coastal valleys
creating bays and
estuaries. These coasts
are referred as
ria coastlines
Estuary - An arm of the
sea that extends inland
to meet the mouth of a
river
 Emergent Coastlines
• Tectonic
forces lift
coastlines
faster than
sea-level rises
• Dramatic cliffs
and marine
terraces
tower above
the sea (e.g.
see next
slide)
 COASTAL FLUVIAL
PROCESSES/LANDFORMS
Coastal Erosion - dependent on wave size,
angle, and frequency. Focused where
waves contact coast.
•Headlands, sea cliffs, bluffs, sea stacks,
natural bridges
•Beach Erosion
 The Work of Waves
The most important agent shaping coastal
landforms is wave action
The energy of waves is expended primarily in
the constant churning of mineral particles and
water as waves break at the shore
• Coastal Transportation - wave action
creates strong currents parallel to shore.
Large waves move beach sand offshore.
Small waves push it back on shore.
• Longshore current
Coastal Deposition – where wave action is
reduced, beaches and dunes form
• beaches
• dunes
• sand spits
Isla Vista Beach, October 2001
Isla Vista Beach, December 2002
Beach Erosion
Marine Terraces
 Wave Refraction
In deep water, away from the coastline,
waves arrive undistorted
As the wave begins to arrive at the
coastline, the water becomes shallow
and so the wave begins to be bent by
the process of wave refraction.
 Wave Refraction - waves change
directional trend as they approach shore

Raglan, New Zealand

Tombolo
Tombolo
Sand Spit
Sand Spit
Sea Stacks
Natural Bridges and
Arches
Barrier Islands
Barrier Islands
Tropical Coasts
 Factors Correlated with Healthy Coral
Reef Growth
• Water temperature range: 18 – 29C
• Normal seawater salinity: 32 – 35 %
• Clear, transparent water
• Little or no sedimentation
• Vigorous water motion
Tropical Mangroves
Mangroves create tidal forests. These rich
ecosystems provide habitat for countless creatures
and help to stabilize and, by catching sediment, even
create coastline.
 Tides

Tides rise and fall with the rising moon, an interval of 24

hours and 50 minutes. There is a bulge on both sides of
the earth. Thus two high tides each cycle.
Flood tide (low to high) takes 6:13 and then ebb tide (back
to low) is another 6:13.
Tide range
dependent on
relative position
of earth, moon,
and sun.
Spring Tides -
highest tidal
range
Neap Tides -
lowest tidal
range
Tide range
dependent on
relative position
of earth, moon,
and sun Full Moon

Spring Tides -
highest tides
Neap Tides -
lowest tides
Half Moon
 The Work of Waves and Tides
Waves are the most important agent shaping coastal
landforms

Waves:
• Are generated by wind
• Erode shorelines
• Move sediment
Bays: bodies of water sheltered from strong wave action
Estuary: where a river empties into a bay

Shoreline: shifting line of contact

between water and land

Coastline: zone in which coastal

processes operate or have a
strong influence
The Work of Waves
When a wave reaches the shore, the drag of the
bottom slows and steepens it
The wave leans forward, and eventually breaks
Marine Scarps and Cliffs
Marine cliff: rock cliff shaped
and maintained by the
undermining action of the
waves
Wave action creates steep
banks or scarps, as well as
sea caves, arches and stacks
Beaches and Littoral Drift
Beach: thick, wedge-shaped
deposit of sand, gravel, or
cobbles in the zone of breaking
waves
Beaches absorb energy of waves
Material moves on to and off the
beach with the waves over time
Beaches and Littoral Drift
Littoral Drift: transport of sediment
parallel with the shoreline by the
combined action of beach drift and
longshore current transportation
Progradation: building out; beach
is widened
Retrogradation: sand is removed;
beach is narrowed
Groin: wall or embankment built at
right angles to the shoreline to trap
sediment
Beach sand may come from
sediment brought by rivers; dams
on the river cause retrogradation
Littoral drift
transports sand
along the shore
On a straight
beach, littoral drift
forms bars and
sandspits
Where the coast
has headlands,
littoral drift builds
pocket beaches in
bays
 Landforms of Littoral Drift
• Beach drift and longshore drift deposit and
shape debris to produce a variety of landforms
• A spit is an elongated deposit that extends
from the land edge out to sea
• It may be shaped to produce a distinctly
curved end, as in Cape Cod
• Another landform that attaches an island to
the mainland is known as a tombolo, while
deposits may also accumulate to create
barriers such as a bay barrier
Landforms of Littoral Drift

Depositional landforms along a coast

 Landforms of Littoral Drift
(A)

A). A. Aerial view of the

Outer Banks, Cape
Hatteras, North
(B)
Carolina
B. Cape Cod,
Massachusetts
C. Long Island, New
York
(C)
C).
 Tidal Currents

Ocean tide: rhythmic rise

and fall of sea level under
the gravitational influence
of sun and moon

• Ebb current: tide is falling

• Flood current: tide is
rising
• Tidal currents
•Keep inlets open
•Redistribute sediments
to form tidal mud flats
and marshes
 Types of Coastlines
Shorelines of
Submergence: sea
levels have risen, or
land has subsided
Ria coast, fiord coast
Shorelines of
Emergence: sea level
falls, or crust rises
Barrier-island coasts,
volcano coasts, delta
coasts, coral reef
coasts, fault coasts
 1.0 Shorelines of Submergence
• Ria coast: rise in sea level or crustal sinking
brings ocean up to fill existing river valleys
•The new embayments are estuaries
• Fiord coast: ocean fills valleys created by glaciers
THANKS
Evolution
of a Ria
Coastline
 2.0 Barrier-Island Coasts
• Barrier island of sand lies a short distance from the coast
• Associated with recently emerged coastal plain
• Ridges of sand built by storm waves
• Behind barrier island is a lagoon
• Tidal inlet: gaps in the barrier island through which tide
flows
 3.0 Delta Coasts
Delta: sediment deposit
built by a stream
entering a body of
standing water
• Current of water slows as it
enters ocean, and sediment is
deposited
• River channel divides into
distributaries
• Deltas have a variety of
shapes
• Deltas can grow and shrink
rapidly
 4.0 Volcano and Coral-Reef Coasts
Volcano coasts: lava and ash from active volcanoes
deposited in ocean
Wave actions erodes the deposits
Forms cliffs and narrow beaches
 Coral reef: rock-like accumulation of carbonates secreted by
corals and algae in shallow water along a marine shoreline
• New land is made by organisms
• Warm tropical and equatorial waters
• Coral needs warm, clean water,
good aeration
• Reefs exposed at low tide,
covered at high tide

Fringing reefs: reef platforms

attached to shore
Barrier reefs: separated from
mainland by a lagoon
Atolls: circular reefs enclosing
a lagoon; no land inside; most
grow on top of old sunken
volcanoes
 Coral bleaching: warm water
temperatures force corals to expel
the algae that live inside the coral
structure

• Algae necessary for coral survival

• Corals can recover from temporary
heat stress and bleaching
• Permanent increase in water
temperature can cause coral death
• Global warming threatens coral
reef survival
• Increased CO2 in ocean impedes
growth of coral structure
 5.0 Fault Coast
Faulting can raise cliffs along a coastline
 Raised Shorelines and Marine Terraces
Marine terrace: former abrasion platform elevated to
become a step-like coastal landform
 Rising Sea Level
As global temperatures increase, sea levels rise
• Expansion of water as it warms
• Melting of glaciers and snow on land
• Sea levels will likely rise 20 to 60 cm by 2100

Rising sea levels mean:

• More coastal erosion
•Higher number of
severe storms
•Sea moves inland
• Land subsidence increases
• Loss of coastal wetlands