Coasts

Coastal Processes and Landforms

 Processes and landforms in coastal areas

Wave Dominated Tide Dominated Wind Dominated

• Shore platforms • Mudflats • Sand dunes

• Cliffs • Sand flats
• Beaches • Salt marshes
• Spits • Mangroves
• Deltas • Deltas

High Energy Low Energy High Energy

 Tides and the Tidal Cycle
Tides are regular movements in the sea’s surface – the rise and fall of sea
levels, caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the oceans.
Out of the two, the moon accounts for the larger share of the pull.

When the earth, moon and sun are aligned the gravitational pull is at its
greatest. This creates a Spring tide. A Spring tide results in a high, high tide
and low, low tide. This creates a high tidal range (difference between the
highest and lowest tide).

Low spring tides occur just after a new moon whereas high spring tides occur
after a
full moon - when the Sun and moon are aligned.

When the sun and moon are at a right angle to the earth we experience Neap
tides. The gravitational pull of the sun partially cancels the moon’s. This results
in a low, high tide and a high, low tide. This creates a low tidal range and
results in weaker tidal currents than normal.
Types of Tides
 What influences tides?
1. Tides are influenced by the size and shape of ocean basins.

2. The characteristics of the Shoreline

3. Coriolis forces

4. And Meteorological conditions.

N.B.

Tides are greatest in bays and along funnel-shaped coastlines.

In the Northern Hemisphere water is deflected to the right of its path.
During low pressure systems water levels are raised 10 cm for every decrease of
10mb.
 Tides and the tidal cycle
The difference between high tide and low tide is called the tidal range.

Tidal range varies with distance from the amphidromic point (place
where there is no tidal range) & according to the shape of the coast; the
strength of tidal currents varies enormously.

If the coast is funneled, a tidal bore can be created due to tide

advances being concentrated in a narrow space.

Coastal areas can be classified into…

Micro-tidal: (very low tidal range – less than 2m)
Meso-tidal: (2-4m)
Macro: (over 4m)
 Tidal range influence on coastal processes:

It controls the vertical range of erosion and

deposition

Weathering + biological activity is affected by the

time between tides

Velocity is influenced by the tidal range and has an

important scouring effect.
 Rip Currents
Rip currents are strong offshore flows, and often occur when
breaking waves push water up the beach face. This piled-up
water must escape back out to the sea as water seeks its own
level. Typically the return flow (backwash) is relatively uniform
along the beach, so rip currents aren't present. However, If
there is an area where the water can flow back out the ocean
more easily, such as a break in the sand bar, then a rip
current can form. When water from the highest sections of
breakers travels upshore upon returning as backwash it
moves through the points where lower sections have broken,
creating a strong backwash current. Once rip currents are
formed they modify the beach by creating cusps which
perpetrate the currents.
Rip currents
Types of CoastLine
 Discordant Coasts
On a discordant coastline, alternating layers of hard
and soft rock are perpendicular to the coast.
Because the soft rock is exposed, it is eroded faster
than the hard rock. This differential erosion creates
headlands and bays along discordant coastlines.
 Concordant Coasts
Concordant coasts have alternating layers of hard and
soft rock that run parallel to the coast. The hard rock
acts as a protective barrier to the softer rock behind it
preventing erosion. If the hard rock is breached though,
the softer rock is exposed and a cove can form (e.g.,
Lulworth Cove).
 Submergent Coast
Results from the sinking or subsidence of the coast, or from a
rise in sea level.
Submergent Coast
 Emergent coast
Emergent coast is caused by an uplift of coastal areas, or by the
lowering of sea level.
Emergent coast
 Storm Surges
Storm surges are changes in the sea level, caused by
intense low pressure systems and high wind speeds.
For every drop in pressure of 10mb, sea water is
raised by 10cm. Therefore during tropical cyclones,
pressure may drop by 100mb resulting in a sea level
rise of 1m! Storm surges can bring catastrophic
consequences and are intensified on funnel shaped
coastlines.
 Types of Coastal features
 Erosional – those produced by erosion
 Examples: cliff, notch, wave-cut platform,
headland and bay, caves, arches, stacks and
blowholes

 Depositional – those produced by deposition

 Examples: beaches, spit, tombolo and bars
etc.
Cliff, Notch and Wave-cut Platform
Cliff, Notch and Wave-cut platform

When waves break against a cliff, they erode

close to high tide line, creating an undercut to
form a feature called a wave-cut notch . Over
time the notch gets deeper until the overlying cliff
no longer supports its own weight and it
collapses. The cliff line will gradually retreat,
which will form a gentle sloping rocky platform
called a wave-cut platform.

A wave cut platform is generally smooth due

to the process of abrasion, but in some
places it may be pockmarked with rock
pools . In parts of the Caribbean where
limestone and coral are coastal rocks.
HEADLANDS AND BAYS
Headlands and bays are common coastal features in the Caribbean and elsewhere in
the world.

❖ Headlands are sections of rocky coastline (cliff) that protrudes into the sea.
• A bay is a pronounced indentation in the coastline usually found between two
headlands.

Headlands and bays most commonly form when rocks of different strengths are
exposed at the coast or where alternating bands of high and low land reach the coast.
HEADLANDS AND BAYS
Headland and Bay
deposition

erosion
Headland and Bay cont’d
.
FORMATION OF CAVES, ARCHES, STACKS AND
STUMPS

Processes of erosion are particularly active along lines of weakness in headland, such
as joints and faults. The energy of the waves is concentrated on these weaker points,
gouging out the rock to form a sea cave. Over time, erosion may lead to two back-to-
back caves breaking through a headland to form an arch. Gradually the arch is
enlarged by erosion at the base and by weathering processes acting on the roof.
Eventually the roof collapses to form an isolated pillar of rock known as a stack. The
stack is further eroded to for a stump
Blow Holes and Sea Inlets
A blowhole is a cavity formed in the inland end of a sea cave. Water or air may issue from the
hole and frequent pounding of the waves as it surges to the back of the cave traps air in lines
of weaknesses and crevices. The compressed air exerts pressure on the joints and expands
when the wave retreats. Continuous hydraulic action will gradually widen the roof of the cave
to form a blow hole.

Overtime the blowhole may become so big thay the roof of the cave loses support and
collapses forming a deep and narrow Inlet called a Geo.
 Depositional Features
 Whatare the two main conditions which lead to the
formation of depositional features?
 Constructive waves and gently sloping shorelines are
associated with deposition
 Where rivers discharge into the sea
 A Beach
❏ A beach is a deposit of sand and/ or pebbles found at the coast.
❑ Beaches are the most common widespread landforms of coastal
deposition.
❑ Sandy beaches are most likely to be formed in sheltered stretches of
coast, where the gentle waves are capable of carrying finer sediments.
❑ Beaches made of pebbles (shingles) tend to form along high energy
coastlines where more powerful waves can transport larger particles
onshore.
Beach formation cont’d
 Wave refraction
It is very rare for waves to approach a regular uniform coastline, as
most have a variety of bays, beaches and headlands. Because of these
features, the depth of water around a coast varies and as a wave
approaches a coast its progress is modified due to friction from the
seabed, halting the motion of waves.

As waves approach a coast, due to the uneven coastline, they are

refracted so that their energy is concentrated around headlands but
reduced around bays. Waves then tend to approach coastline parallel to it,
and their energy decreases as water depth decreases.

However, due to the complexities of coastline shapes, refraction is not

always fully achieved resulting in long shore drift (which is a major force
for transporting material along the coast).
 Wave Refraction
The change in the direction of the waves as
they approach the shore, converging on
headlands and diverging as they approach the
bay
Stronger on the headlands
Weaker in the bay
What happens next?
Other Depositional features
➢Spit
➢ Bar
➢ Tombolo
➢ Sand dune

 Draw well labelled diagrams of the

features identified above.
 Spits
A spit is a narrow finger of sand or pebbles that protrudes out into the sea from the land.

It is formed when sediment transported along the coast by long shore drift is deposited at a bend in the
coastline.

• Overtime the sediment gradually extends into the sea at the point where the coastline changes shape.

• Fine muds are deposited in the very calm sheltered waters behind a spit to form mudflats and
saltmarshes.

• The tip of the spit becomes curved to form a recurved tip or hook owning to the changes in the wind and
wave direction.

Nb: the important thing to remember about spit is that it is actual land. It does not become submerged by the
sea at high tide.
Sand spit
A Spit
 Tombolos
Occasionally a spit grows away from the shore and becomes attached to an island, this is called
a tombolo. A good example is Scott Head tombolo in Dominica.

The Palisadoes tombolo south of Kingston, Jamaica is a highly complex tombolo that connects
several offshore cays.
Kingston Palisadoes- Tombolo
A Tombolo
 Bars

A bar is a long narrow deposits of sand or shingle that usually

forms parallel to the coast. There are two main types of bar:

❑ A bay bar- is a deposit of sand or shingle that forms

across a bay, often trapping a freshwater lake or lagoon
behind it.
❑
A Bar – Baymouth Bar
 Bar
An offshore barrier bar is a narrow sand or shingle deposit that runs parallel to the coast
just out to the sea. It is usually only exposed to low tide

A shallow saltwater lagoon forms behind the bar, topped up at each high tide when the
water washes over the bar. Over time the offshore bar may form a long narrow island
called a barrier beach.

Example in the Caribbean, two bars along the coast of St. Thomas, Jamaica, enclose
a lagoon known as the Yallahs Pond.
Part of Yallahs Pond St.
Thomas.
A Bar – Offshore Bar