Lecture Topic: Oceans and Coastlines
Emphasis is on wave action and the energy for redistribution of clastic sediments; must
know sedimentary rock types to write sensibly about this environment
Figures 20.2, 20.3, 20.13, 20.14**
We did not cover tides, hurricanes, storm surges, or topography of deep seafloor. We did
cover beach restoration.
Key Terms active margin, beach, longshore current, passive margin
A passive margin is tectonically quiet, and is often called the trailing edge of the
continent. Sediments eroded from the continent are delivered to the continental
shelf, slope, and rise. Coarse sediments are deposited close to the shoreline and
fine sediments are deposited farther out (silt and clay).
Winddriven waves redistribute sediment at the coastline.
Breaker zone waves become unstable, peak, and break in the zone.
Suf zone water is turbulent
Swash zone water at the beach moves up and back
Wave refraction process by which the direction of propagation of a wave or
group of waves is changed due to changes in the wave speed.
Differences in wave speed are caused by variation in water depth
The part of a wave thats in shallow water moves slower than the part of a wave
in deeper water.
When the depth under a wave crest varies along the crest, the wave bends
Longshore current current that forms parallel to a beach as waves arrive at an
angle to the shore
Longshore currents are generated in the surf zone by wave action, transporting
large amounts of sand and sediment
The two general kinds of engineering responses to shoreline erosion are hard and soft
stabilization.
Hard stabilization rigid, permanent structures that try to keep the shoreline at a
fixed location (ex: seawalls)
o Seawalls vertical walls, usually of concrete, built to separate land and
sea, but they do not absorb the wave energy. Instead, wave energy is
reflected onto the beach and back offshore. Increased energy in the swash
zone can cause sand removal from the front of the seawall.
Seawalls must be constantly repaired due to wave damage. In
some cases, the cost of seawall construction and maintenance
eventually exceeds the value of the property being protected.
o Groins and jetties rigid structures built from the beach into the water to
trap sediment from the longshore current.
Groins were once common erosional-control structures, but they
have fallen out of favor because of down-current impacts. They
cause an uneven distribution of sand along the beach caused by
erosion and deposition
Deposition is up-current and erosion is down-current of the groin.
Jetties similar to groins except that they are built in pairs at inlets to keep the inlet open
for navigation
A single jetty is most-commonly built on the up-current, seaward side to keep sand from
filling the inlet
Sand has built up on the up-current side of the jetties, and down-current erosion has
caused landward migration of the beach in the foreground.
Soft Stabilization impermanent actions such as beach nourishment.
The beach is a buffer between the sea and the land. Beach nourishment widens
beaches and offers more protection to ocean-front property.
Nourishment may require hundreds of thousands to millions of cubic yards of
sand.
Beach nourishment process of adding sand to build up the beach or dune
system. Nourishment is not a permanent method of protecting and area from
erosion.
o Natural processes (especially storms) will remove the artificially added
material
