EARTH SCIENCE
MARINE AND COASTAL PROCESSES AND THEIR EFFECTS
MARINE AND COASTAL PROCESSES AND THEIR EFFECTS
Coastal management is becoming implemented more because of the movement of people to the shore and the
hazards that come with the territory. Some of the hazards include movement of barrier islands, sea level rise,
hurricanes, nor'easters, earthquakes, flooding, erosion, pollution and human development along the coast.
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THREE MAIN PROCESSES AT WORK IN THE SEA
A. Erosion is the wearing away of the land by the sea. This often involves destructive waves wearing away the
coast.
Five main processes which cause coastal erosion
1. Corrasion is when waves pick up beach material (e.g. pebbles) and hurl them at the base of a cliff.
2. Abrasion occurs as breaking waves which contain sand and larger fragments erode the shoreline or
headland. It is commonly known as the sand paper effect.
3. Hydraulic action -when waves hit the base of a cliff air is compressed into cracks. When the wave retreats
the air rushes out of the gap. Often this causes cliff material to break away. This process is known as
hydraulic action.
4. Attrition is when waves cause rocks and pebbles to bump into each other and break up.
5. Corrosion/solution is when certain types of cliff erode as a result of weak acids in the sea.
B. Transportation is the movement of material in the sea and along the coast by waves. The movement of material
along the coast is called longshore drift. Longshore drift happens when waves moves towards the coast at an
angle. The swash (waves moving up the beach) carries material up and along the beach. The backwash carries
material back down the beach at right angles. This is the result of gravity. This process slowly moves material
along the beach. Longshore drift provides a link between erosion and deposition. Material in one place is
eroded, transported then deposited elsewhere.
Four different ways of material transport:
1. Traction - large material is rolled along the sea floor.
2. Saltation - beach material is bounced along the sea floor.
3. Suspension - beach material is suspended and carried by the waves. .
4. Solution - material is dissolved and carried by the water.
C. Deposition is when eroded material is dropped by constructive waves. It happens because wave have less
energy. Deposition creates a range of landforms.
Terminologies:
a) Coastal Erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along
the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other
impacts of storms.
b) Coasts also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the sea or ocean,
or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Around 620,000 kilometres
of coastline are on Earth
c) Beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing
a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles.
d) Backwash the motion of receding waves.
e) Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of
sediments along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on oblique incoming wave direction.
f) Sea level rise since at least the start of the 20th century, the average global sea level has been rising.
Between 1900 and 2016, the sea level rose by 16–21 cm. More precise data gathered from satellite radar
measurements reveal an accelerating rise of 7.5 cm from 1993 to 2017, which is a trend of roughly 30 cm
per century
g) Submergence the process or state of being submerged in or covered with water.
h) Coastal deposition is when the sea drops or deposits material. This can include sand, sediment and shingle.
This results in the formation of landforms of coastal deposition.
i) Beach profile refers to a cross-sectional trace of the beach perpendicular to the high-tide shoreline and
extends from the backshore cliff or dune to the inner continental shelf or a location where waves and
currents do not transport sediment to and from the beach.
j) Swash or forewash in geography, is a turbulent layer of water that washes up on the beach after an
incoming wave has broken. The swash action can move beach materials up and down the beach, which
results in the cross-shore sediment exchange.
