Coastal Processes Lab
The sea never rests. Learn how waves erode, transport and deposit, and how a headland is worn down to a cave, an arch, a stack and finally a stump.
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The restless coast 🌊
The coast is a battleground between land and sea. Waves **erode** rock, **transport** the pieces along the shore, and **deposit** them elsewhere. Understand these processes and you can explain every coastal landform.
Four ways the sea erodes 🗂️
Learn the four erosion processes:
Match each erosion process to its meaning
- Hydraulic action
- Abrasion
- Attrition
- Solution
- Air and water forced into cracks break the rock
- Sand and pebbles thrown at the cliff wear it away
- Rocks knock together and become smaller and rounder
- Seawater dissolves soluble rock
Name the process
What is hydraulic action?
- Waves forcing air and water into cracks, breaking the rock
- Rocks grinding into smaller pieces
- Seawater dissolving the rock
- Sand blasting the cliff face
Moving along the coast 🏖️
Eroded material is **transported** along the shore. **Longshore drift** moves sediment in a **zig-zag**: waves push it up the beach at an **angle** (swash), then it rolls **straight back down** (backwash). Material also moves by traction, saltation and suspension.
How a stack forms
An interactive activity.
Constructive vs destructive 💡
Two wave types shape the coast. **Constructive** waves are gentle with a strong **swash**; they **build** beaches by depositing material. **Destructive** waves are powerful with a strong **backwash**; they **erode** the coast and drag material away.
Erosion only
Select the TWO processes of coastal erosion.
- Hydraulic action
- Abrasion
- Deposition
- Longshore drift
Match each landform to how it forms
- Headlands and bays
- A cave
- A stack
- A beach
- Softer rock erodes faster than harder rock
- Waves erode a weakness in a headland
- An arch collapses
- Waves deposit sand and pebbles
Coastal-processes frame
Waves erode cliffs by processes such as hydraulic action and _____. Material is carried along the coast by _____ drift. _____ waves build beaches, while destructive waves _____ the coast.
Explain the coast
An interactive activity.
Zig-zag journey
Longshore drift moves material along the coast because waves...
- Approach at an angle, but the backwash runs straight down
- Always hit the beach straight on
- Dissolve the sand as they go
- Never move any sediment
Explain a stack
An interactive activity.