distinctive costal landforms

• headland


  area of land that juts into sea & formed due to harder, more resistant rock being eroded more slowly
• bay


  formed between headlands due to softer, less resistant rock which erodes quicker. beaches often form in sheltered bays
• wave cut platform 


  formed when a cliff face is eroded by sea
• cliffs & wave cut platforms

  formed when cliff face is eroded by sea:

  • waves -> base, hydraulic action & abrasion cut a wave-cut notch into base
  • eventually, wave-cut notch make cliff unstable & collapse
  • material then moved to sea, abrasion will smooth surface
  • if cliff made from well jointed sedimentary rocks, wave cut notch occur more often
• arches and stacks form in headlands when:

  — two caves on either side of headland erode (abrasion & hydraulic action) backwards until they cut through back wall.

  — weathering erodes roof of arch and wave cut notices erode base to make it wider.

  — eventually the roof collapsed to leave a pillar of rock (stack)
• beaches and spits form when…

  the swash is stronger than the backwash & deposition occurs
• beach


  a build up of sand, shingle and pebble deposited by waves
• spit


  longshore drift transports beach material along coast. where coast changes direction (eg: river mouth), beach material is carried to sea. creates a new strip of land called spit. (example: spurn point on holder was coastline, river humber)
• silts and sands that are transported by the river are…

  deposited at river mouth and form an offshore bar. material can then be washed onshore by swash action.
• formation of a spit

  — prevailing winds bring waves in at an angle

  — material moved along beach in zig-zag

  — coastline changes direction

  — material despotism in shallow calm water, to form a spit

  — spit curved with change of wind direction
• bedding plane


  clearly seen layers of rock in a cliff face
• stack


  a vertical pillar of rock left behind after the collapse of an arch
• arch


  a natural opening in a cliff where the sea is able to flow through
• wave-cut notch


  a slot with overhanging rocks that have been cut into the bottom of a cliff by wave action
• wave-cut platform


  a coastal landform made of a rocky shelf in front of a cliff