Waves, Erosion, and Coastal Landforms
This page focuses on wave characteristics, erosion processes, and the formation of specific coastal landforms.
Wave Characteristics
The document explains key wave concepts:
- Fetch: The distance wind or waves have traveled. Longer fetch results in bigger waves.
- Constructive waves: Strong swash, weak backwash, long wavelength, and create wide, flat beaches.
- Destructive waves: Weak swash, strong backwash, short wavelength, and create narrow, steep beaches.
Definition: Fetch is the uninterrupted distance over which wind can blow to generate waves.
Coastal Erosion Processes
The page details four main erosion processes:
- Hydraulic action: The force of waves against rocks and cliffs, pressurizing air in cracks.
- Abrasion: Debris in waves hits the coastline, breaking off pieces.
- Attrition: Rocks knock against each other, becoming smaller and rounder.
- Solution: A chemical process that dissolves rocks.
Highlight: These erosion processes work together to shape coastal landscapes over time.
Formation of Coastal Landforms
The document explains the formation of several coastal landforms:
- Bars: Form when a spit joins two headlands together, creating a lagoon behind.
- Caves, arches, stacks, and stumps: A sequence of landforms created by differential erosion of headlands.
- Tombolo: A spit that grows from the mainland to connect with an offshore island.
Example: The Old Harry Rocks in Dorset, UK, are an example of stacks formed through the process of hydraulic action and abrasion.
The page provides a step-by-step explanation of how headlands evolve into caves, arches, stacks, and finally stumps through the processes of erosion and weathering.
Vocabulary: A stack is a tall, isolated rock formation created when the arch of a sea arch collapses.
This comprehensive guide provides students with essential knowledge about coastal mass movement and erosion processes for GCSE geography, covering key concepts, landforms, and management strategies.
