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Displacement of Land Along The

Coastal erosion is defined as the loss or displacement of land along the coastline due to waves, currents, tides, wind, water, or ice. It can occur over short time scales like tides or longer time scales by the removal of sediment and rocks. Coastal erosion forms landforms on non-rocky coasts as softer areas erode faster than harder ones. It threatens historic structures and housing developments and regularly damages the California and English coasts.

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46 views3 pages

Displacement of Land Along The

Coastal erosion is defined as the loss or displacement of land along the coastline due to waves, currents, tides, wind, water, or ice. It can occur over short time scales like tides or longer time scales by the removal of sediment and rocks. Coastal erosion forms landforms on non-rocky coasts as softer areas erode faster than harder ones. It threatens historic structures and housing developments and regularly damages the California and English coasts.

Uploaded by

Pavani Nisansala Kulasekara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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here are two common definitions of coastal erosion.

It is often defined as the loss or


displacement of land along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven
water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms.[1][2] In this case, landward retreat of the
shoreline, measured to a given spatial datum, is described over a temporal scale of tides, seasons,
and other short-term cyclic processes.[3] Alternatively, it is defined as the process of long-term
removal of sediment and rocks at the coastline, leading again to loss of land and retreat of the
coastline landward.[4] Coastal erosion may be caused by hydraulic action, abrasion, impact and
corrosion by wind and water, and other forces, natural or unnatural.[3]

On non-rocky coasts, coastal erosion results in rock formations in areas where the coastline
contains rock layers or fracture zones with varying resistance to erosion. Softer areas become
eroded much faster than harder ones, which typically result in landforms such as tunnels,
bridges, columns, and pillars. Over time the coast generally evens out. The softer areas fill up
with sediment eroded from hard areas, and rock formations are eroded away.[5] Also abrasion
commonly happens in areas where there are strong winds, loose sand, and soft rocks. The
blowing of millions of sharp sand grains creates a sandblasting effect. This effect helps to erode,
smooth and polish rocks. The definition of abrasion is grinding and wearing away of rock
surfaces through the mechanical action of other rock or sand particles.

place where erosion of a cliffed coast has occurred is at Wamberal in the Central Coast region of
New South Wales where houses built on top of the cliffs began to collapse into the sea. This is
due to waves causing erosion of the primarily sedimentary material on which the buildings
foundations sit.[6]

Dunwich, the capital of the English medieval wool trade, disappeared over the period of a few
centuries due to redistribution of sediment by waves. Human interference can also increase
coastal erosion: Hallsands in Devon, England, was a coastal village washed away over the course
of a year, 1917, directly due to earlier dredging of shingle in the bay in front of it.

The California coast, which has soft cliffs of sedimentary rock and is heavily populated,
regularly has incidents of housing damage as cliffs erodes.[7] Devil's Slide, Santa Barbara, the
coast just north of Ensenada, and Malibu are regularly affected.

The Holderness coastline on the east coast of England, just north of the Humber Estuary, is one
of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe due to its soft clay cliffs and powerful waves. Groynes
and other artificial measures to keep it under control has only accelerated the process further
down the coast, because longshore drift starves the beaches of sand, leaving them more exposed.
The White Cliffs of Dover have also been affected.
Fort Ricasoli in Kalkara, Malta already showing signs of damage where the land is being eroded

Fort Ricasoli, a historic 17th century fortress in Malta is being threatened by coastal erosion, as it
was built on a fault in the headland which is prone to erosion. A small part of one of the bastion
walls has already collapsed since the land under it has eroded, and there are cracks in other walls
as well.

In El Campello, Spain, the erosion and failure of a Roman farm fish excavated on rock during
the first century B.C. was exacerbated by the construction of a close sport harbour[8].

The ability of waves to cause erosion of the cliff face depends on many factors.

The hardness (or inversely, the erodibility) of sea-facing rocks is controlled by the rock strength
and the presence of fissures, fractures, and beds of non-cohesive materials such as silt and fine
sand.

The rate at which cliff fall debris is removed from the foreshore depends on the power of the
waves crossing the beach. This energy must reach a critical level to remove material from the
debris lobe. Debris lobes can be very persistent and can take many years to completely disappear.

Beaches dissipate wave energy on the foreshore and provide a measure of protection to the
adjoining land.

The stability of the foreshore, or its resistance to lowering. Once stable, the foreshore should
widen and become more effective at dissipating the wave energy, so that fewer and less powerful
waves reach beyond it. The provision of updrift material coming onto the foreshore beneath the
cliff helps to ensure a stable beach.

The adjacent bathymetry, or configuration of the seafloor, controls the wave energy arriving at
the coast, and can have an important influence on the rate of cliff erosion. Shoals and bars offer
protection from wave erosion by causing storm waves to break and dissipate their energy before
reaching the shore. Given the dynamic nature of the seafloor, changes in the location of shoals
and bars may cause the locus of beach or cliff erosion to change position along the shore.[10]

Coastal erosion has been greatly affected by the rising sea levels globally. There has been great
measures of increased coastal erosion on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Locations
such as Florida have noticed increased coastal erosion. In reaction to these increases Florida and
its individual counties have increased budgets to replenish the eroded sands that attract visitors to
Florida and help support its multibillion-dollar tourism industries.

Secondary factors

 Weathering and transport slope processes

 Slope hydrology

 Vegetation

 Cliff foot erosion

 Cliff foot sediment accumulation

 Resistance of cliff foot sediment to attrition and transport

 Human Activity

Tertiary factors

 Resource extraction

 Coastal management

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