Coasts, Coastal Landforms and Management

The sea shapes the coast

The coast is where land meets sea, and the sea is always reshaping it. Waves, weather and the movement of material wear the land away in some places and build it up in others. This creates erosional landforms such as cliffs, headlands and stacks, and depositional landforms such as beaches and spits. People try to manage the coast to protect settlements and land. This module covers the coastal processes, the landforms they create, and how the coast is managed for the future.

Coastal words to know

Learn these before you study any coastline. They name the processes that shape the coast and the ways people defend it.

Match the coastal process to its work

Constructive against destructive waves

The kind of wave decides whether a beach grows or shrinks. The difference is in the swash and the backwash.

Which landform is this?

The sea attacks a crack in a headland, opening it into a cave, then right through to form an arch. The arch collapses, leaving a tall pillar of rock standing in the sea. What is this pillar called?

• A stack
• A spit
• A beach
• A wave-cut platform

Explain the landform, step by step

Top answers do not just name a landform; they explain how it formed, step by step, using the processes. Name the process, say what it does to the rock, and build up the stages in order. For a stack: the sea erodes a crack into a cave, the cave is worn through into an arch, the arch collapses, and a stack is left. Process, change, next stage: that ordered chain is what earns the marks.

Pick the erosional landforms

Select every landform below that is made mainly by erosion.

• A cliff
• A headland
• A stack
• A beach
• A spit

Order how a stack forms

Put the stages of forming a stack in the correct order.

• The sea attacks a crack in the headland
• The crack is eroded into a cave
• The cave is worn right through into an arch
• The top of the arch collapses
• A tall pillar of rock, a stack, is left
• The stack is worn down over time into a stump

Complete the coastal facts

The wearing away of the land by the sea is _____. The movement of worn material along the coast is _____. The dropping of material where the sea loses energy is _____. The zigzag movement of material along a beach is _____.

One headland, many processes

Picture a rocky headland sticking out into the sea. It shows the whole coastal story at once. The waves hit it hardest, so erosion attacks its weak points, opening caves and arches. The worn rock is picked up and carried away by transportation. Where the coast curves into a sheltered bay and the sea slows, that material is dropped by deposition, building a beach. Longshore drift then shifts the beach material along the coast in a zigzag. One headland shows erosion, transportation and deposition all at work. Naming each process and where it acts is the heart of coastal study.

Spot the deposition

Tap the TWO statements that describe DEPOSITION, where the sea drops material.

• Sand builds up in a sheltered bay to form a beach
• Material is dropped where the coast changes direction, forming a spit
• Waves wear a cliff back to leave a wave-cut platform
• The sea opens a crack in the headland into a cave

Manage the coast

A coastal town is losing land to the sea. Choose the best response at each step.

• The town needs strong, immediate protection for its seafront. What is one hard-engineering option?
• The town also wants a cheaper, more natural defence. What is a soft-engineering option?
• Planners must weigh cost, wildlife and the long term. What makes a management decision sustainable?

Build a coastal explanation

Choose the word for each gap to complete one correct coastal explanation.

Quick-fire coast check

Answer each question. You have three lives, and losing them all restarts the run.

Explain how the sea shapes the coast

A visitor asks why one part of a coast has tall cliffs and another has a wide sandy beach. Explain how the sea shapes the coast through its processes and landforms, and how the coast can be managed.

• Explain the processes of erosion, transportation and deposition
• Explain the difference between constructive and destructive waves
• Explain how an erosional landform such as a stack forms
• Explain how a depositional landform such as a beach or spit forms
• Explain one hard and one soft way of managing the coast