COAST

What is coastal process?

How does coastal landforms are formed?
What are the condition of mangroves
and coral reefs?
What are the opportunities and hazards
of the coast?
What are the coastal management?
 Coastal Process

- The coast is the area where the

sea meets the land
- The coast is formed due to
erosion, transportation and
deposition
 Coastal Process

- The power of the waves is the most

significant forces of coastal change.
- The size of the waves is influenced by:
• How long the wind blows
• The strength of the wind
• How far is the fetch (the distance where it
travels.)
PARTS OF THE WAVE
The distance between 2
crest or through

The distance between

crest and through
The top of the wave

The low area between 2

waves
 Wave cycle
Swash – movement of
Water up the beach to
Load up the beach
 

Backwash – the movement of water back down

the beach
 Constructive waves are flatter and are
depositional that is why it creates the
beach. Constructive waves have a
lower wavelength.

Destructive waves bigger waves and

erosive, it eats up the beach or erodes
the cliffs. It has a higher wavelength
Other factors that affects coastal process:

• Local geology (rock structure and strength)

• Changes in sea level (tides)
• Human activity and coastal engineering
Types of erosion
 Headlands are result of coastal erosion

• Headlands are jutting cliffs of hard rocks.

• Coastlines with softer rocks are eroded creating bays

Headland (arch) Headland

Bay

Bay
 Formation of Headland and Bay

In coast where there is alternating hard rock and soft rock,

headlands and bays form
 Formation of Headland and Bay

concordant coastline - coastline that has the

same type of rocks along its length
discordant coastlines are alternates between
hard rock and soft rocks.
• Cliff changes overtime due to marine
process or land based process
• Stronger rocks forms headlands that
protrude (sticking out)
• Weaker rocks form bays
• Wave refraction either spreads wave
energy to around the bay or on the flank
of the headland.
 Wave Refraction
* It caused changes in the wave: speed of wave
(reduced) and the shape of the wave front.
* It distributes wave energy along the stretch of
coast depending on the type of coastline:
-headlands are exposed to full
force of the wave so there is
maximum erosion

- bays are in sheltered areas

where wave loses its energy
therefore will have less erosion
Other coastal landforms
 - at high tide, the waves attack the
base of the cliff and undercut it
into a form of a wave-cut notch.
- After time. the cliff above the noth
(overhang) will collapse as it loses
its support.
- The cliff retreats backward
- the process repeated over time
until it the cuts the cliff to leave a

WAVE-CUT PLATFORM -
platform of rock.
this is only exposed during lowtide
 Longshore drift
* Waves called swash come into the beach at an
angle because of wind direction
It picks up materials and the wave called
backwash pulls the materials back down the
beach straight due to the gravity.

This process repeats

along the beach in
a zigzag pattern.
 Coastal Landforms through deposition
Berm – is a ridge (long thin hill)
that forms at the top of the
beach. It is the highest section of
the beach.
Intertidal zone is the area
between high tide and low tide.

Beach – the accumulation of sand between the lowest

spring tides and the highest spring tides. Beaches are
made of sand, shingles or pebbles. Beaches receive their
materials from longshore drift. Constructive waves, cliff
erosion and river discharge.

Backshore- is the area above the normal high tide level.

Foresore – are between the normal high and low tide
Offshore- area below the normal low tide
Coastal Landforms through deposition
 Coastal Landforms through deposition

1. Beach
2. Bars
3. Spit
4. Tombolo
5. Sand dunes
 Beach/ Sand dunes
• Development caused by constructive waves in
the lowland coast composed of soft rocks. It is
the accumulation of materials deposited
between low spring tide and by storm waves
at high spring tide.
• It has 3 zones: backshore, foreshore and
offshore.
 Sand dunes

Dunes are formed where constructive waves

accumulation of sand and when onshore wind blows
this sand inland.
Dune formation is also promoted by the presence of of
obstacles such as Marram grass, vegetation, pebbles
and soil to trap the moving sand grains.
Coral Reefs and Mangroves
• Coral reefs are underwater
structures composed of the
Skeleton of coral which are
invertebrate animals.
• Coral reef are vulnerable to
many dangers most of them
are man-made.
Coral reefs
• - near the land mass/ fringe the coast of a
landmass

• - greater distance from the shore

• - rise from submerged volcanic foundation

 A process where corals become white
due to various stressors. It is when coral

Coral Bleaching
losses its major food source and become
susceptible to disease.
 Importance and Threats to Coral reefs
Importance:
It is the rainforest of the sea

Threats:
Dynamite and cyanide fishing
Collection of specimens, trampling and berthing of
boats, oil spill, mining, waste (pollution)
Global warming causes coral bleaching (kills the algae
in coral and remove the color)
Mangroves
Coastal Hazards and Opportunities
1. Tropical Storm or Hurricanes
Hurricanes begin as tropical storms over the
warm moist waters of the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans near the equator. (Near the
Phillippines and the China Sea, hurricanes are
called typhoons.).
As the moisture evaporates it rises until
enormous amounts of heated moist air are
twisted high in the atmosphere. The winds
begin to circle counterclockwise north of the
equator or clockwise south of the equator. The
relatively peaceful center of the hurricane is
called the eye. Around this center winds move
at speeds between 74 and 200 miles per hour
As long as the hurricane remains over waters
of 79F (26C) or warmer, it continues to pull
moisture from the surface and grow in size
and force. When a hurricane crosses land or
cooler waters, it loses its source of power, and
its wind gradually slow until they are no longer
of hurricane force--less than 74 miles per
hour.
 Coastal Hazards
2. Erosion
3. Human Activity
- Urbanisation and transport
- Agriculture
- Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture
- Tourism, recreation and hunting
- Industries, energy production
 Coastal Management
• Long term or short term
• Sustainable and non-sustainable
 A technique involving the
construction of significant man-
Hard engineering made structures to manage the
coastline.

Examples: Cliff base management or sea wall

Purpose: to prevent erosion or flooding, to stop
the drifting of materials
• Best are flatter, permeable, rougher walls

groynes
breakwater

pier
revetment

gabions
Cliff drainage

vegetation
Cliff regrading
 Soft engineering
A technique involving the
construction of environmentally
friendly, less damaging and
arguably more sustainable
management solutions.

Beach nourishment
Others:

• Manage retreat plan

• Forecasting and warning
• Loss Sharing – like insurances
• Do nothing let nature do its thing
• Land Zoning- city administration should plan
where to locate different land use to keep it safe
from hazards
• Afforestation – planting trees
• Coral reef preservation