Oceanography

1222 Words3 Pages

If you have ever lived in proximity to coastal areas you may have seen coastline erosion first hand. The beaches you frequent during the summer may seem to be getting smaller and smaller every year. Why does your favorite beach seem to be disappearing? Coastal erosion is to blame. The waves, wind, tides and currents all play a part in the mechanism that is coastal erosion. When water and wind batter the shoreline sediments are carried out to sea and deposited on the sea floor or at other points along the coastline. This is called an erosional coastline. This erosion may be very apparent or seem to have happened overnight when it happens due to a large storm or extremely high tide.

So all coastlines are subject to this abuse from the oceans hence all coastlines suffer from erosion? Wrong not all shorelines suffer from coastal erosion some shorelines are actually undergoing a growth due to depositing of sediments moved through wave action and currents. This type of coastline is called a depositional coastline. Much of these sediments are just transported from other eroded areas along the coastline. This happens depending on the movement of the water up and down the coast, certain features of the coastline cause the sediments to be deposited instead of eroded away.

The features of an erosional coastline are Headlands, Caves, Arches, Stacks, Sumps, Cliffs and Wave-cut platforms. (Chambers, 2007)Headlands are a narrow land mass that extends out from the shore, similar to a peninsula but on a smaller scale. The shape and size of headlands may vary but, headlands usually take more wave battering and current turbulence due to the fact that they interrupt wave energy and many times erode from both sides. This diagram illustrates how h...

... middle of paper ...

...om shore and being lost in the underwater canyon.

Many forces are at work on the coastlines of the world. These processes have been going on throughout the ages. The power of water and wind will change the world we live in. In the future it is hopeful that man will come to understand all these forces and learn to live in balance with them.

Works Cited

Chambers. (2007, August 20). Coastal Erosion Landforms - Features and Formation. Retrieved March 29, 2010, from GeoBytesGCSE: http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2007/08/coastal-erosion-landforms-features-and.html

Jessey, D. (2010, February). Oceanography II. Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://geology.csupomona.edu/: http://geology.csupomona.edu/drjessey/class/Gsc101/OceanographyII.html

Trujillo, A. P., & Thurman, H. V. (2008). Essentials of Oceanography. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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