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Coastal landforms
Coastal geography is the study of the constantly changing region between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography (i.e. coastal geomorphology, geology and oceanography) and the human geography (sociology and history) of the coast.
A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake.
Beaches and barriers. Beach systems are an essential component of a larger scale coastal landform called barriers, which are long-term accumulation of wave, tide, and wind deposited marine sediment (usually sand) at the shore.
These regions are characterized by beaches, dunes, barriers, deltas, strandplains, backbarrier marshes, lagoons, and tidal flats. In extreme climates, such as along the Arctic coast, features are influenced by ice processes such as the patterned ground and ice-push barriers.
Coastal Landform Types
Coastal areas are commonly defined as the interface or transition areas between land and sea, including large inland lakes. Coastal areas are diverse in function and form, dynamic and do not lend themselves well to definition by strict spatial boundaries.
A coast is a strip of land that meets an ocean or sea. Coasts have many different features, such as caves and cliffs, beaches and mudflats. Tides, waves, and water currents (flow) shape the land to form these coastal features.
Processes called erosion, mass movement and weathering break down and remove material from the coast. The material is moved along the coastline by the sea and deposited when there is energy loss. Geography. Coastal landscapes in the UK.
The basics… The three principle marine processes that influence coasts are erosion, transportation and deposition. Erosion refers to the breaking down of the land by the force of waves.
Coastal Processes
Eroding cliffs and offshore continental shelf sediment also provide sources of materials for the coast. Other processes which influence the coastal environment include longshore drift, winds and wave erosion.
Marine and Coastal Processes Marine and Coastal Processes – Occurs when waves break on a shore, not only on ocean or sea coasts but also on lakes and ponds. • Coastal Erosion – Coastal Erosion is the wearing away of the land by the sea.
This geologic setting and the exposure to waves are the two most significant factors in determining nearshore processes. Waves, winds, and currents are the principal driving forces for coastal processes, and have extensively modified the coast by the erosion and deposition of sediment.
The coastal environment is a naturally dynamic system. Coastal processes shape the physical environment, providing habitat such as turtle or seabird nesting beaches, reefs, and mangrove forests or seagrass beds.
The coastal zone is not a stable and constant environment, but a dynamic place that can change rapidly in response to natural processes such as seasonal weather patterns. Waves, winds, currents, tides and storms are the major forces on the coast.
The main geological factors—sediment type, arrangement and resistance of sediment structures, and isostasy—are the basis of the morphological processes and the development of coastal relief.
In addition to contemporary pressures from human influences, coastal ecosystems are susceptible to global climate change. Regardless of their source, sea level rises cause significant shoreline inundation, overstepping of barrier islands, loss of intertidal wetlands, and increased salinization of coastal embayments.
There are two types of coastal management: