Coastal landforms

Cliffs and Wave-cut platforms:

1) Cliffs form as the sea erodes the land

2) Weathering and wave erosion cause notches to be created at high water mark, which eventually develops into a cave

3) The rock above the cave becomes unstable as it has nothing to support it and it eventually collapses

4) Wave-cut platforms are flat surfaces left behind when a cliff is eroded

Headlands and bays:

1) Form when there are bands of alternating hard and soft rock at right angles to the shoreline

2) Soft rock erodes quickly, forming a bay. Harder rock erode less and stick out as a headland

Caves, arches and stacks:

1) Some landforms found in cliffs - these are called cliff profile features

2) Weak areas in rock e.g. joints are eroded from caves

3) Caves on opposite sides of a narrow headland may eventually join with an arch

4) When an arch collapses it forms a stack

Beaches:

1) Form when constructive waves deposit sediment on the shore, is a store in the coastal system

2) Shingle beaches - steep and narrow, made up of larger particles, which pile up at steep angles. Sand beaches - wide and flat, formed from smaller particles

3) Beaches have distinctive features 

- Berms are ridges of sand and pebbles found at high tide marks                                                  - Runnels are grooves in the sand running parallel to the shore, formed by backwash                  - Cusps are crescent-shaped indentations that form on beaches of mixed sand and shingle

Spits: Tend to form when the…