Description of a raised beach

A raised beach is an emergent coastal landform. Raised beaches are

beaches or wave cut platforms raised above the shore line by a
relative fall in the sea level. This could be due to an actual fall in the
water level such as may be caused by the partial draining of a lake or
a river cutting its way into a deeper channel. It may also be as a result
of the isostatic recovery of the land.

Raised beaches are found mainly on west-facing Atlantic coasts, such

as Donegal Bay, County Cork and County Kerry in Ireland.

Formation of a Stack
The sea erodes small cracks in a headland using marine processes
such as hydraulic action and attrition and makes them larger. The
cracks then gradually get larger and turn into a small cave. When the
cave erodes right through the headland, an arch forms. Further
erosion by marine processes widening the arch and sub-aerial
processes, such as saturation, make the arch weaker, causing the arch
to collapse. This causes a pillar of hard rock standing away from the
coast. This is called a stack. Stacks form most commonly on chalk
cliffs, because of the medium resistance to erosion. Cliffs with weaker
rock such as clay tend to slump and erode too quickly to form stacks,
while harder rocks such as granite erode in different ways. An example
is the Old Man of Hoy in Orkney, Scotland.