Unit 3: Coastal Landscapes

LQ: How do natural processes shape our coastline?

Starter tasks :

Task: Give a definition of the term

‘Landform’.

Task: Circle and select the words that you

think are landforms:

Cave, erosion, beach, weathering, cliff,

wave, Arch, saltation, deposition, stack,
solution

Challenge: For those words you have not

selected, explain why they are not
landforms.

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
Erosional Landforms

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
Tasks
1. Watch – Headlands and Bays
2. Define a headland and a bay
3. Look at the diagram of St Brides bay and complete the
sentences: using the word bank to help you
• A bay has formed at St Brides Bay because..
• A headlands has formed at St David's Head because..

Challenge: The arrows show wave refraction, find out what

this means and explain why it is happening in this
diagram.
Soft rock
hard rock
more resistant
less resistant
igneous rock (harder rock)
Sedimentary rock (softer rock)
faster
Slower
erode/erosion

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
To identify and describe erosional landforms
Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
To identify and describe erosional landforms
Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
Concordant and discordant coastlines
Challenge:
Explain how concordant and discordant coastlines
form using the diagram.
A concordant coast is where bands of more resistant and
less resistant rocks run parallel to the coastline.

A discordant coast is where bands of more resistant and

less resistant rock run perpendicular (at right angles) to
the coastline.
Headland and Bays

Task:
Stretch:
On the map of the UAE and the surrounding
Using the geology map, give reasons for
region, label a headland and Bay.
your answers in the first task.
Wave-cut platform
Watch -
https://timeforgeography.co.uk/videos_list/coasts/form
ation-of-a-wave-cut-platform/ 1

Most headlands are defined by cliffs. Where these cliffs rise

steeply from the sea, the repeated breaking of destructive
waves leads to them being undercut at the base. A wave-cut
notch is formed. Undercutting weakens the rock above the
notch and it eventually collapses. Thus the cliff face retreats
but its steep face is maintained. The retreat of the cliff leads to
the formation of a gently sloping wave-cut platform at the
base.
2
 Cliffs and wave-cut platforms
Add these labels to your
diagrams: 1

wave-cut notch - sea - Watch the video carefully to find out:

cliff − What is a wave-cut platform?
high water mark - − How is it formed?
low water mark − Why do cliffs retreat inland?
wave-cut platform -
overhang
retreating cliff
2

What affects the position

off the wave cut notch?

Why is it not always

possible to see the wave
Wave-cut platform - cut platform?
Southerndown, Glamorgan, Wales

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
 Cliffs and wave-cut platforms
Add these labels to your
diagrams: 1 overhang
cliff
wave-cut notch - sea - Watch the video carefully to find out:
cliff
− What is a wave-cut platform?
high water mark - high water mark
− How is it formed?
low water mark wave-cut
− Why do cliffs retreat inland?
low water mark
wave-cut platform - notch
sea
overhang
retreating cliff
2
retreating cliff

What affects the position

off the wave cut notch?

Why is it not always

possible to see the wave
wave-cut platform
Wave-cut platform - cut platform?
Southerndown, Glamorgan, Wales

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
Cliffs and wave-cut platforms
Order the statements to explain how a coastline recedes
and how wave-cut platforms are created:
Highlight the
The debris from the collapsed cliff is broken down by key words in
attrition and contributes to the abrasion of the base of the answers.
the cliff, which gradually retreats inland.
Erosion occurs between the high water mark and the
low water mark, undercutting the cliff and creating a Wave-cut platform –
wave-cut notch. Isle of Purbeck, Dorset
As more erosion occurs, the wave-cut notch becomes
deeper and the overhanging cliff is increasingly
unsupported and eventually collapses.
As the cliff retreats, a gently-sloping rocky area is left
called a wave-cut platform. This area is exposed during
low tide and contains ridges and grooves that have
been produced by abrasion.
Destructive waves erode the base of the cliff by
abrasion and hydraulic action.
What factors might affect how fast erosion Wave-cut platform –
occurs and how fast the coast retreats? Morwenstow, North Devon

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
Cliffs and wave-cut platforms
Order the statements to explain how a coastline recedes
and how wave-cut platforms are created:

The debris from the collapsed cliff is broken down by

attrition and contributes to the abrasion of the base of 4
the cliff, which gradually retreats inland.
Erosion occurs between the high water mark and the
low water mark, undercutting the cliff and creating a 2 Wave-cut platform –
wave-cut notch. Isle of Purbeck, Dorset
As more erosion occurs, the wave-cut notch becomes
deeper and the overhanging cliff is increasingly 3
unsupported and eventually collapses.
As the cliff retreats, a gently-sloping rocky area is left
called a wave-cut platform. This area is exposed during 5
low tide and contains ridges and grooves that have
been produced by abrasion.
Destructive waves erode the base of the cliff by
abrasion and hydraulic action.
1
What factors might affect how fast erosion Wave-cut platform –
occurs and how fast the coast retreats? Morwenstow, North Devon

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms
Summary Quiz
Have a go at this recap quiz – Cool Geography

What coastal landforms can you identify?

To identify and describe erosional landforms

Describe the characteristics of headlands and bays
To explain how erosion processes create landforms