Coastal Landforms

• peninsula


  A piece of land that is surrounded by water on three sides.
• Tombolo


  A ridge of sand that connects an island to the mainland
• Cliffed Coast


  -transition from land to see as abrupt

  -At low tide, the foreshore zone is exposed as a wave cut platform

  -The cliffs here are vertical, but cliff angles can be much lower
• Sandy coastline


  -at high tide, the Sandy Beach is inundated, but the vegetated tunes are not

  -dune vegetation plays a crucial role in stabilising the coast and preventing erosion
• Estuarine Coastline


  -extensive mudflats, cut by channels are exposed a low tide, but inundated at high tide

  -Closer to the backshore, the mudflats are vegetated, forming a salt marsh

  -type of coastline gradually transitions from land to sea
• Spit


  A beach formed by longshore drift that projects like a finger out into the water- e.g spurn head, holderness coast
• Bayhead beach


  An extensive deposit of sand and/or gravel in the form of a beach at the back of a bay. e.g lulworth cove
• Barrier beach/bar


  A sand or shingle beach connecting two areas of land with a shallow water lagoon behind. e.g cliesil beach, Dorset
• Hooked/recurved spit


  A spit whose end is curved landward into a bay due to prevailing winds- hurst castle spit, hampshire
• Cuspate foreland


  Is a triangular accumulation of sand and or gravel located along the coastline.This feature is formed by longshore drift from opposing directions i.e. Dungeness, Kent