Part 1 Factors that shape coastal landforms

Spilling breakers give the appearance of foam cascading down from the peaking wave
crest.
Plunging breakers have waves curling over and a mass of water collapsing on to the
sea surface.
Collapsing breakers have wave crests peaking as if about to plunge, but the base of the
wave then rushes up the shore as a thin layer of foaming water.
Surging breakers retain a smooth wave form with no prominent crest as they slide up
the shore.

Nearshore Currents
Longshore or littoral currents are created when waves approach a coastline obliquely.
They dominate the surf zone and travel parallel to the coast.
Rip currents or rips are fed by longshore currents and develop at regular intervals
perpendicularly to the beach and flow through the breaker zone. They are strong
currents and dangerous to swimmers.
Onshore currents are slower and develop between rip currents
 Tsunamis
Tsunamis occur on a regular basis. The historical average of reported tsunamis is fifty-
seven tsunamis per decade, but in the period 1990–99 eighty-two were reported, ten of
which were generated by earthquakes associated with plate collisions around the
Pacific Rim.
Tides
The form of the wave created by tides depends upon several factors, including the size
and shape of the sea or ocean basin, the shape of the shoreline, and the weather.

Part 1 Conclusion
Coasts are wave-dominated and tide-dominated these factors are what creates the
distinct morphologies of each coast. The interplay of waves and tides has a huge
control over beach formation. Crucial factors involved are breaking wave height, wave
period, spring tidal range, and sediment size. The three chief types are wave-dominated
beaches, tide-modified beaches, and tide-dominated beaches.
Wave-dominated beaches occur where waves accompany microtidal ranges.
Tide-modified beaches occur in areas of higher tide range exposed to persistent waves.
Tide-dominated beaches occur where very low waves accompany areas of a higher tide
range.
 Part 2 Process that shape coastal landforms

Degradational – refers to erosional activities of mainly wind and water. It refers to the
lowering of a landform through erosional process.
Shoreline weathering
Salt weathering most effective where the coastal rocks can absorb seawater and spray.
Water – layer weathering occurs in pools of free-standing seawater contained on the
platform surface, the water level being maintained by waves, spray, and tide action.
Wave erosion
Plunging breakers produce up to 600 kPa or more – because air trapped and
compressed between the leading wave front and the shore. Air compression and the
sudden impact of a large mass of water dislodge fractured rock and other loose
particles, a process called quarrying.
Breaking waves also pick up debris and throw it against the shore, causing abrasion of
shoreline materials. Some seashore organisms erode rocks by boring into them – some
mollusks, boring sponges, and sea urchins do this.
Aggradational - refers to an increase in elevation of land usually in river system due to
deposition of sediments.
Sediment transport and deposition
Fluvial erosion - detachment of material of the riverbed and the sides.

Part 2 conclusion

Coastal landforms are shaped by erosional and depositional processes caused by

mechanical, chemical, and biological activities.
 Part 3 coastal landforms
Coastal erosional landforms
Shore platforms and plunging cliffs
Shore platforms form if a cliff recedes through cliff erosion Two basic factors determine
the degree of cliff erosion: the force of the assailing waves and the resisting force of the
rocks.
Plunging cliffs, no development of shore platform formed by the drowning of pre-
existing, wave-formed cliffs resulting from a fall of land level or a rise of sea level.

Landforms of cliffs and platforms

Cliffs steep or vertical slopes that rise precipitously from the sea or basal platform, and
about 80% of earth’s oceanic coast are edged with cliffs.
Notches are sure signs of cliff erosion. Shallow notches are sometimes called nips.
Ramps are found at cliff bases and slope steeply than the rest of the shore platform.
They occur on sloping and horizontal shore platforms. Horizontal shore platforms may
carry ramparts, perhaps a meter or so high, at their seaward margins.
Potholes are formed by the swirling action of sand, gravel, pebbles, and boulders
associated with wave action grind out.
Caves a hollow excavated by waves at points of geological weakness, such as bedding
planes, joints, and faults. Arch are formed when a cave continues to be eroded and
expanded until it cuts right through a headland. Stack forms when a sea arch continues
to be eroded and widened until the rock becomes too weak to support the roof of the
sea arch and collapses into the sea.
Gorge is a narrow and steep-sided cleft formed by erosion of vertical faults, dykes, and
collapse of lava or mining tunnels
Blowhole is formed as sea caves grow landwards and upwards into vertical shafts,
which can result in hydraulic compression of sea water that is released through a port
from the top of the blowhole.
 Coastal depositional landforms
Beaches
1. Wave - dominated
a. Waves start breaking several hundred meters offshore as spilling breakers
on the outer bar, then reform in the outer trough to break repeatedly on
the inner bar or bars, they dissipate their energy across the surf zone.
i. Longshore bar and trough Breakers are typically 1.5-2.0 m high and
rip currents are moderate and beach material of medium sand.
ii. Transverse bar and rip composed of fine to medium sand and
exposed to waves averaging 1.5m. It is perpendicular to and
attached to the beach, separated by deeper rip channels.
iii. Low-tide terrace Breakers 0.5-1.0 m high. Beach composed of fine
to medium sand. It is flat and featureless, or cut every several
meters by small rips
2. Tide – modified
a. occur mainly where higher tide ranges and lower waves result in the
spring tide range being three to ten times greater than the average
breaker wave height.
i. Reflective plus low tide terrace is characteristically a relatively
steep cusped reflective high tide beach.
ii. Reflective plus low tide rips at high tide, the waves pass over the
bar without breaking until the beach face, where they usually
maintain a relatively steep beach with cusps.
iii. Ultradissipative low beach gradient means that waves break across
a relatively wide, shallow surf zone as a series of spilling breakers
that continually dissipate the wave energy, hence the name
‘ultradissipative’.
3. Tide – dominated
a. occur mainly where the spring tide range is ten to fifty times greater than
the average breaker wave and consist of a low high-tide beach fronted
increasingly by inter- to low-tide tidal flats, the latter grading with lower
energy into true tidal flats.
i. Reflective plus ridged sand flats are composed of sand and gravelly
sand. The beach is only active at high tide. the exact mode of the
formation of the ridges is unknown.
ii. Beach plus sand flats there are no waves at a reflective + sand flat
beach unless strong onshore winds are blowing.
iii. Beach plus tidal mudflats
They are like the reflective + tidal sand flats, with mud, rather than
sand, occupying the intertidal zone. Mangroves or other vegetation
may grow in the upper intertidal zone.
Spits, Barriers, and related forms
Beach Barrier a continuation of the original coast or running parallel to
the coast.
Comet-tail spit stretch from the leeside of an island
Arrow stretches from the coast at high angles
Recurved spit has their ends curving sharply away from incoming waves towards
the land.
Looped barriers stretch from the leeside of an island.
Tombolo connects islands with islands or islands with the mainland
Barrier island runs parallel to the coast. Often recurved at both ends.
Beach ridges is commonly composed of sand as well as sediment worked from
underlying beach material.
Cheniers cannot form in coasts with high wave energy as the fine-grained sediments
needed for their growth are carried offshore. They are most formed in tropical and
subtropical climates.
Coastal sand dunes are mainly composed of medium-sized to fine quartz grains that are
well sorted. Can be found in a range of environments and is developed in east facing
swell and trade-wind coasts.
Estuaries form when the glaciers retreat, seawater floods the deeply incised valleys,
creating estuaries. The glaciers leave deep channels carved into the Earth with a
shallow, narrow sill near the ocean.
1. Fjords – Glacial trough with a floor below sea level.
2. Rias – Rivers drowned by Holocene sea-level rise.
3. Coastal plain estuary - created when sea levels rise and fill in an existing
river valley.
4. Bar-Built – Have barriers that encloses lagoons.
5. Blind - can be identified by a sandbar that temporarily closes the estuary
from sea.
6. Delta fronted estuary -
7. Tectonic estuary – Formed by tectonic process. (Folding or faulting)
Tidal Flats are composed of clay and silt sized sediments.
1. High-tide flat – gentle slope, partially submerged during high tides
2. Intertidal slope – submerged at high tide and exposed at low tide
3. Subtidal slope – submerged even at low tide
Salt Marshes forms when tidal flats are high enough for plants to grow. Sediments
found in this landform is sandy clay, silty sand, or silty peat.
Mangals favors tidal shorelines with low wave energy and brackish water produced by
estuaries and deltas.
Deltas
1. Type 1 – elongated mouth bar that is roughly perpendicular to the
coastline and has protrusions called bar-finger sands.
2. Type 2 – Broad, fingerlike channel sand protrusions
3. Type 3 – Tidal currents create tidal creeks that are perpendicular to the
coast and the waves create beach-dune ridge and barriers parallel to the
coast.
4. Type 4 – Advance into lagoons, bays, or estuaries protected by barriers.
5. Type 5 – Wave redistributed sands forms into extensive sand sheets.
6. Type 6 – Wave action straighten the coast and consist of sandy barriers
parallel to the coast.
Coral reefs a mound composed of remains of coral organisms where present living
corals grow. It is typically found in shallow marine environments.
Atoll is a ring of coral reef that encompasses a lagoon. It is formed as a ring of coral
surrounds an undersea volcano that has risen above the water's surface and the
volcano sinks back to the ocean the ring of coral remains and becomes an atoll