Coastal Landforms
Erosional and
depositional landforms
Defining the Coastal Area /
Zone
The coastline is the line where the land and sea
meet.
The coast is a zone or strip of land extending
from the coastline, which borders the sea to
where the land rises inland. Its limit is marked
by the level of high tide.
The shore is the zone which lies between mean
high low water mark and high water mark and
constitutes both the backshore and foreshore.
Backshore is the zone between mean high tide
level and the coastline.
Foreshore is the lower zone of the beach lying
between the low and high water level.
Defining the Coastal Area /
Zone
Features Produced by Wave or
Marine Erosion
Cliffs
Headlands and bays
Waves, arches and stacks
Wave-cut platforms
Blow Holes or Gloups and Goes
Cliffs
Most fundamental and ubiquitous feature of rock
coastlines. Variations based on differences in
Lithology
Jointing
Structure
Degree of exposure
Erosional History
The dip of the rock
Wave action
Sub-aerial erosion
Dead or a(Live)
Classification into Live or Active cliffs,
those which are experiencing wave
erosion , or experiencing sub aerial
activity, gullying, soil creep or
slumping. They often have free-faces
Dead cliffs are isolated from the sea
by sand, shingle, sand-marsh
deposits, and rock marsh
Cliff Development
1. Removal of a wedge-shaped mass of
rock, ( a notch) largely by the mechanical
action of breaking waves, often utilizing
some weakness
2. Once this has been initiated, basal attack,
weathering and slumping, gullying and
mass-movement wear down the headland
3. The cliff increases in height and the wavecut platform is extended
Cliff Development
4 As the wave cut platform develops,
the process slows down as the
shallower water over the platform
slows down, and the basal attack is
less intense.
Headland and Bays
Where there are alternating beds of hard and
soft rocks, the hard rocks offer a greater
resistant to erosion . They eventually stands
out as headlands, that is, as promontories
with steep cliff sides projecting out into sea.
The softer rocks are easily eroded as they are
less resistant to marine erosion. In due course
an indentation or cure in the land, called a
bay is formed. Bays are separated by
headlands.
Cliffs, Headland and Bays
Processes
Several other processes are found in
and on cliffs, these include
Sub-aerial processes ( Weathering
and Mass movement); e.g. slumping,
sliding, soil-creep, freeze-thaw,
carbonation, salt-crystallization,
biological weathering
Rates of Cliff Recession
Variation based on the
Structure of the rock
The Aspect
The vegetation
Mans impact
Protect ional features
Notches
These are grooves that are eroded into
cliffs
Between mean high tide and low tide
Extremely important in cliff development
Develop in areas of weakness
Variations include smooth rounded rocks in
limestone and chalk ( chemical action)
Wave Cut Platforms
Tremendous variation
Some are temporary, some permanent.
Some are covered with sand and shingle,
others have channels, trenches and
hollows
In hard rock the platforms are poorly
developed whereas in soft homogenous
rock there are broad, even surfaces with
minor furrows
Wave-cut platforms
Formed by wave abrasion, and
solution
Delicate balance based on the
resistance of the rock
Weak rock will collapse
Strong rock resistance will be
minimal
Rampanalgas- Mean Low
tide
Wave-cut platform at mean
high tide
Caves, arches and stacks
Caves a natural underground hollow formed by
erosion
Arches formed by the wearing away of narrow
headland, generally by the formation of two back-to
back caves which eventually join. These are temporary
and eventually collapse
Stacks- Tall isolated pillars of rock that are free standing
in the sea, alone or in a group. They may result from
the collapse of an arch and are normally residual
features formed from a former headland
Stumps rocky platforms offshore that may be covered at
high tide, but may be uncovered throughout the day.
Arch
Arch
Stacks
Stacks
Geos
Long, narrow gorge-like inlets,
normally formed because of the
collapse of a cave
Features Produced by Marine
Deposition
Beaches
Spits and Bars
Tombolos
Mudflats
Sand Dunes
Beaches
A beach is an accumulation of
materials such as boulders, pebbles,
shingle, sand and mud on a sloping
or shelving ground. The waves which
break offshore result in its erosive
power decreasing . This is caused by
the swash and backwash which
deposits materials on the shore.
Beaches
WHAT ARE SPITS?
Spits are generally linear deposits of
beach material attached at one end to
land and free at the other. Where the
direction of the coast changes, sediment
carried by longshore drift may form a
tongue of sand and other material, which
is called a spit
HOW ARE SPITS FORMED?
Spits are formed when a large accumulation of
material forms a narrow strip of land that juts out
into the sea but is still connected to the
[Link] a river .carries large amounts of
material into a bay, waves moving obliquely will
transport the material in a diagonal direction
along the beach by the process of longshore drift .
An example of a spit is the Cocal spit at the
mouth of the Nariva River on the east coast of
Trinidad
CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO
FORM A SPIT
There must be a good supply of sand and other
sediments
Waves must approach the coast at an angle, so
that longshore drift moves material along the
coast
The sea must be relatively shallow
The sea is usually fairly calm, with low-energy
constructive waves
WHAT ARE TOMBOLOS?
A linear deposit of sand or stones,
formed by longshore drift, which joins
an island to the mainland is called a
tombolo.
An example of a tombolo is the
Palisadoes in Jamaica
TOMBOLOS
MUDFLATS
Mudflats are lowlying parts of the coast which
are submerged at high tide and low tide. They
are normally located behind a bar or sandpit or
besides estuaries and are comprised of silt or
clay. In tropical areas mudflats support dense
tropical mangrove vegetation community often
with large area of swamp.
MUDFLATS
SAND DUNES
Some sea shores consist of ridges of sand
deposits by waves and shaped by wind. These
are termed sand dunes. They are confined to
coastal areas which are lowlying and are above
sea high water tidal level.
The onshore winds blowing across sandy
beaches constantly renew and shape the sand
deposits. Vegetation on the coast trap the sand
and causes it to be stationary .
Sand dunes are common in Port Royal in
Jamaica and Sandy Belt in Guyana.
Sand Dunes
THE END
Prepared by: Ms . Fouchong
