Geography

• Erosion

  Wearing away of sediment
• transportation: energy of the sea moves sediment
• Beaches are always changing shape
• Deposition

  When waves lose energy, they put down sediment
• Types of waves

  • Destructive waves
  • Constructive waves
• Destructive waves

  • Stronger backwash
  • Tall waves
  • Steep beach
• Formation of destructive waves

  1. Strong winds generate large amounts of energy in the ocean

  2. Waves crash with force, eroding the land and taking away sediment
• Formation of constructive waves

  1. Wind blows over the ocean creating smaller and gentler waves

  2. Weak backwash compared to swash

  3. They deposit sediment onto the coastline, building it up over time
• Fetch

  Distance a wave travels
• Types of weathering

  • Mechanical weathering
  • Chemical weathering
  • Biological weathering
• Mechanical weathering

  • Breaking down rocks into smaller pieces
  • Happens through freeze-thaw
• Chemical weathering


  • Rocks and minerals are broken down and changed through chemical reactions
• Biological weathering


  • Process of rock breakdown that occurs through living organisms like plants and animals
• Types of mass movement

  • Landslide
  • Rockfall
  • Mudflow
  • Slumping
• Types of erosion


  • Marine erosion
  • Hydraulic power
  • Abrasion
  • Solution
  • Attrition
• Longshore drift


  Wind hits the beach at a 45 degree angle, creating a swash and backwash at another angle due to gravity, resulting in a zig-zag movement of sediment along the beach
• Erosion at headlands


  1. Cracks form from abrasion

  2. Cracks break into caves from hydraulic action

  3. Caves widen and collapse, forming an arch

  4. Arch turns into a stack as it becomes unsupported and falls, leaving a stump
• Formation of a saltmarsh


  Longshore drift creates a spit bar, which closes off an area and allows a saltmarsh to form
• Hard engineering techniques


  • Sea wall
  • Groynes
  • Rock armour
• Soft engineering techniques


  • Beach nourishment
  • Planting vegetation