Coastal processes

• Coast considered as an open and closed system 


  ~ Open because it receives inputs from the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and cryosphere

  ~ Closed where a specific sediment cell is examined during research and coastline management
• Inputs to a coast examples

  ~ Sediment carried by rivers/waves

  ~ Wind generated waves

  ~ Precipitation
• Outputs to a coast examples

  ~ Eroded material taken out to sea

  ~ Ocean currents

  ~ Evaporation
• Transfers in a coastal system examples


  ~ Transportation processes

  ~ Longshore drift
• Stores in a coastal system examples

  ~ Beaches

  ~ Cliffs

  ~ Dunes

  ~ Marsh environments
• Example of negative feedback at coasts

  ~ Material makes a wave-cut platform wider from the eroding shore

  ~ This can absorb wave energy and reduce the impact at the base of the cliff
• Example of positive feedback at the coast 


  ~ Material is released when waves erode cliffs

  ~ This material then abrades the cliff - meaning even more cliff erosion
• Lithology - rock structure

  • Strata - layers of rock
  • Bedding planes - horizontal cracks created by pauses in rock formation
  • Joints - vertical cracks caused by tectonic movement or contraction
  • Folds the result of pressure during tectonic movement causing the rock strata to fold
  • Faults - the result of stress or pressure causing it to fracture
  • Dip - the angle of the rock strata
• What is succession


  The changes in an ecosystem, over time, of the species that occupy it