Coastal erosion

Learning objectives

To study the principal factors responsible for the erosion of a landscape.
To apply our knowledge to the explanation of some of the characteristics of the relief of the region.
To place the duration of these phenomena on the Geological Time Scale.
To present several photos of several places around the globe illustrating the same phenomena of alteration, erosion or accumulation.

The principal agents of erosion of the littoral remain waves, tidal effects and marine currents. The masses of moving water act like "bumper collisons" that alter the rock.

One should not underestimate the importance of chemical degradation of the rock by spray (causing dissolution of material), as is the case for calcereous rock.

The form of the littoral depends on a great many parameters. It could be something like simple beaches composed of sand or pebble beaches, or it could be a matter of cliffs that have been fashioned by successive rockfalls.