COAST

understanding of the work of the sea and wind

in eroding, transporting and depositing.
COAST is a narrow contact zone between the
land and the sea
Coasts are shaped by the sea and the action of
waves
Pg.300 – 303 The new wider world

Define the term coast

Explain the coastal erosional processes
Explain the coastal Transportation processes
Name the erosional landforms
Name the depositional landforms
Coastline
 The action of waves

The power of waves is one of the most

significant forces of coastal change. Waves are
created by wind blowing over the surface of the
sea. As the wind blows over the sea, friction is
created - producing a swell in the water. The
energy of the wind causes water particles to
rotate inside the swell and this moves the wave
forward
Wave
 Wave Terminology

Crest: The top of the wave.

Trough: The low area in between two waves.

Wavelength: The distance between two crests or two

troughs.

Wave height: The distance between the crest and the

trough.
 Cont.

Wave Frequency: The number of waves per minute.

Velocity: The speed that a wave is traveling. It is influenced

by the wind, fetch and depth of water.

Swash: The movement of water and load up the beach.

Backwash: The movement of water and load back down the

beach
 Factors affecting the strength and size of a
wave

i) How long the wind has been blowing

ii) The strength of the wind
iii) how far the wave has travelled (the fetch)
This activity shows the length of fetch along the south coast of England:
 Cont.

Waves can be destructive or constructive.

When a wave breaks, water is washed up the
beach - this is called the swash. Then the water
runs back down the beach - this is called the
backwash. With a constructive wave, the swash
is stronger than the backwash. With a
destructive wave, the backwash is stronger than
the swash.
 Destructive waves

The effects of a high wave

Characteristics of Destructive wave
Destructive waves are created in storm conditions.
They are created from big, strong waves when the
wind is powerful and has been blowing for a long
time.
They occur when wave energy is high and the wave
has travelled over a long fetch.
They tend to erode the coast.
They have a stronger backwash than swash.
They have a short wave length and are high and steep
 Constructive waves

The effects of a low wave

 Characteristics of Constructive wave

They are created in calm weather and are less

powerful than destructive waves.
They break on the shore and deposit material,
building up beaches.
They have a swash that is stronger than the
backwash.
They have a long wavelength, and are low in
height
 Coastal processes

1. Coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the wearing away and
breaking up of rock along the coast.
Destructive waves erode the coastline in a
number of ways:
 Cont.

Hydraulic action.
Air may become trapped in joints and cracks on a
cliff face. When a wave breaks, the trapped air is
compressed which weakens the cliff and causes
erosion.
Abrasion.
Bits of rock and sand in waves grind down cliff
surfaces like sandpaper.
 Cont.

Attrition.
Waves smash rocks and pebbles on the shore
into each other, and they break and become
smoother.
Solution.
Acids contained in sea water will dissolve some
types of rock such as chalk or limestone
 Transportation
This is the process of waves moving (transporting)
material (load) along a coastline

Swash: The waves breaking and traveling up the beach

carrying load. Waves will break and the swash will
travel in the direction of the wind.

Backwash: The waves returning to the sea with load.

Waves will take the shortest possible route back to the
sea (gravity)
 Cont.
Continual swash and backwash transports material
sideways along the coast. This movement of
material is called longshore drift and occurs in a
zigzag
Longshore drift only happens when the waves hit
the beach at an angle. It is the process of the swash
transporting material up the beach at an angle and
the backwash returning directly under the force of
gravity that causes material to be transported along
the beach
 Coastal transport

There are four ways that waves and tidal

currents transport sediment.
These can then contribute to the movement of
sediment by longshore drift.
Solution
Minerals are dissolved in sea water and carried
in solution. The load is not visible. Load can
come from cliffs made from chalk or limestone,
and calcium carbonate is carried along in
solution.
 Cont.

Suspension
Small particles are carried in water, eg silts and
clays, which can make the water look cloudy.
Currents pick up large amounts of sediment in
suspension during a storm, when strong winds
generate high energy waves
 Cont.
Saltation
Load is bounced along the sea bed, e.g small
pieces of shingle or large sand grains. Currents
cannot keep the larger and heavier sediment
afloat for long periods.
Traction
Pebbles and larger sediment are rolled along the
sea bed.
 Deposition

When the sea loses energy, it drops the sand,

rock particles and pebbles it has been carrying.
This is called deposition. Deposition happens
when the swash is stronger than the backwash
and is associated with constructive waves
 Cont.

Deposition is likely to occur when:

waves enter an area of shallow water.
waves enter a sheltered area, eg a cove or bay.
there is little wind.
there is a good supply of material.
LANDFORM FORMATION
 Erosional landforms
Bays and Headlands

They are formed when you get alternate layers of hard and soft rock. The
sea is able to erode the soft rock a lot quicker than the hard rock making a
bay. The harder rock forms a headland.

Bay: An indented area of land normally found between two headlands.

Bays are usually more sheltered so there is less erosive power, meaning
you often find beaches in bays.

Headland: A piece of land that sticks out into the sea. Waves refract
around headlands so they experience a lot of erosion forming
Cont.
Cont.
 Cont.

Geology is the study of the types of rocks that

make up the Earth's crust. Coastlines where the
geology alternates between strata (or bands) of
hard rock and soft rock are called discordant
coastlines. A concordant coastline has the same
type of rock along its length. Concordant
coastlines tend to have fewer bays and
headlands.
Discordant and concordant coasts in Dorset
 Cont.

Along the coastline of the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset,

there are both discordant and concordant
coastlines. The discordant coastline has been
formed into Studland Bay (soft rock), Ballard Point
(hard rock), Swanage Bay (soft rock) and Durlston
Head (hard rock). After Durlston Head, the strata
stop alternating and the coastline is made up of
hard rock. This concordant coast has fewer features
 Cliffs, wave-cut platforms and notches

One of the most common features of a coastline

is a cliff. Cliffs are shaped through a combination
of erosion and weathering - the breakdown of
rocks caused by weather conditions.
Soft rock, eg sand and clay, erodes easily to
create gently sloping cliffs. Hard rock, eg chalk, is
more resistant and erodes slowly to create
steep cliffs.
Seven Sisters chalk cliffs on the East Sussex
coast
The erosion of cliffs
 The process of cliff erosion

1.Weather weakens the top of the cliff.

2.The sea attacks the base of the cliff forming a wave-
cut notch.
3.The notch increases in size causing the cliff to
collapse.
4.The backwash carries the rubble towards the sea
forming a wave-cut platform.
5. The process repeats and the cliff continues to retreat
Caves, arches, stacks and stumps
 Cont.
weathering and erosion can create caves,
arches, stacks and stumps along a headland
Caves occur when waves force their way into
cracks in the cliff face. The water contains sand
and other materials that grind away at the rock
until the cracks become a cave. Hydraulic action
is the predominant proces
 Cont.
If the cave is formed in a headland, it may
eventually break through to the other side
forming an arch.
The arch will gradually become bigger until it
can no longer support the top of the arch. When
the arch collapses, it leaves the headland on one
side and a stack (a tall column of rock) on the
other
 Cont.

The stack will be attacked at the base in the

same way that a wave-cut notch is formed. This
weakens the structure and it will eventually
collapse to form a stump
One of the best examples in Britain is Old Harry
Rocks, a stack found off a headland in the Isle of
Purbeck
Old Harry Rocks, Swanage, Dorset
Cont.
 Depositional landforms
Deposition creates beaches, spits and tombolos,
sand dunes

Beaches are made of eroded material that has

been transported and deposited by the sea.
A spit is a stretch of beach material that sticks out
to sea, joined to the mainland at one end.
A tombolo is a stretch of beach material that
connects an island to the mainland
TOMBOLO
SPIT
BEACH
SAND DUNES
Sand Dunes
Cont..
cont