Lecture 1

The Coast:
Beaches and Shoreline Processes

By:
Dr Nor Aizam Adnan
PPSUG/FSPU
 Overview
• Coastal regions constantly change.
• The beach is a dominant coastal feature.
• Wave activity continually modifies the
beach and coastal areas.
• Waves affect deposition and erosion of
sand and subsequent coastal features.
• Sea level changes affect the coast.
• Humans have attempted various coastal
stabilization measures.

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 Coastal Regions

• General Features
• Shore – the zone that lies between the low
tide line and the highest area on land affected
by storm waves
• Coast – extends inland as far as ocean
related features are found
• Coastline – boundary between shore and
coast
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 Beach Features
• Beach – entire active area of a coast
affected by waves. Consists of
• Shore – divided into
• Backshore – above high tide line; covered with
water only during storms
• Nearshore – from low tide water line to where
waves break at low tide
• Offshore – area beyond low tide breaking
waves

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 Other Beach Profile Features
• Wave-cut bench –
flat, wave-eroded
surface
• Recreational beach –
area above the
shoreline
• Berm – dry, gently
sloping region

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 Other Beach Profile Features
• Beach face – wet,
sloping surface
between berm and
shoreline
• Longshore bar –
underwater sand bar
parallel to the coast
• Longshore trough –
separates longshore
bar from the beach

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 Composition of Beaches

• Formed from locally available material

• May be coarse or fine grained sediment
– Boulders from local cliffs
– Sand from rivers
– Mud from rivers
• Significant biologic material on tropical
beaches
– Example, Coral reef material
• Material is always in transit along the
shoreline.
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 Sand Movement Along Beach

Two Major Types

1.Perpendicular to shoreline (toward and
away)
– Swash – water rushes up the beach
– Backwash – water drains back to the ocean
2.Parallel to shoreline (up-coast or down-
coast)
– Longshore current – transports sand along
the beach

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Swash
and
Backwash

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Longshore Transport

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 Wintertime Beach
• Heavy wave activity
– Backwash dominates
– Sediment moved away
from shore
– Narrower beach
– Flattened beach face
• Longshore bars are
present
• Stormy weather

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 Summertime Beach
• Light wave activity
– Wide, sandy berm
– Steep beach face
– Swash dominates

• Longshore bars not

present
• Generally milder
storms

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 Longshore Current
• Parallel motion of
water along shoreline
• Caused by wave
refraction
– Causes zigzag motion
of water in surf zone
• Longshore currents
travel at speeds up to
4 km (2.5 miles) per
hour
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 Longshore Transport
• Also called longshore drift, beach drift, or
littoral drift
• Only occurs in the shallow water surf
zone
• Transports beach sediment in a zigzag
fashion in the direction of the
longshore current
• Beaches sometimes called “rivers of
sand”
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 Longshore Transport
• Millions of tons of sediment moved yearly
• Direction of transport changes due to
wave approach
• In general, net sediment movement is
southward along the Atlantic and Pacific
coasts of the United States

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 Two Major Types of Shores
• Erosional Shores
– Well-developed cliffs
– Exist where tectonic uplift of coast occurs
– U.S. Pacific coast is one example
• Depositional Shores
– Gradually subsiding shore
– Barrier islands and sand deposits are
common

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 Erosional Shores
• Protruding bits of land
called headlands
absorb much wave
energy.
• Wave cut cliffs and
sea caves are other
features carved out
by wave activity.

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 Erosional Shores
• Sea arches form
where sea caves in
headlands erode all
the way through.
• Sea stacks form when
the tops of sea arches
erode away
completely.
• Bedrock uplift
generates a marine
terrace.

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 Erosional Shorelines
• Wave erosion
increases with
– More shore
exposed to open
ocean
– Smaller tidal range
– Weaker bedrock

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 Depositional Shorelines
• A bay barrier, or bay mouth bar, seals off a
lagoon from the ocean.
• A Tombolo is an sand bar that connects an island
to the mainland.
• Barrier islands are long offshore sand deposits
that parallel the coast.
• A spit connects at one end to the mainland and
hooks into a bay at the other.

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Depositional Shorelines

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Depositional Shorelines

Tombolo Barrier
island

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 Barrier Islands

• Common along East and Gulf coasts of

the United States
• Do not exist along erosional shorelines
• Protect mainland from high wave
activity
• Can migrate landward over time

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 • Ocean beach
Barrier Island • Dunes
Anatomy • Barrier flat
• High salt marsh
• Low salt marsh
• Lagoon

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 Barrier Island
• Ocean Beach – closest part of the island to the
ocean
• Dune – stabilized by grasses; protect lagoon from
strong storms
• Barrier flat – grassy area that forms behind dunes

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 Barrier Island
• High and low salt marshes – biologically
productive wetlands
– Generate peat deposits of decaying organic matter
• Lagoon – water between barrier island and
mainland

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 Barrier Islands
• Migrate landward
over time due to
rising sea levels
• Older peat deposits
found on ocean
beach

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 Deltas
• Triangular deposits
of sediment where
rivers empty into
oceans or seas
– Distributaries
carry sediment
to ocean

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 Beach Compartments
• Three major
components:
1. Rivers that supply
beach sediment
2. Beach itself
3. Offshore
submarine canyons
• Beach starvation –
human activities
block supply of sand
to beach
compartments.
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Beach Compartments (Continued)

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 Emerging Shorelines
• Shorelines above current sea level
• Marine terraces – flat platforms backed
by cliffs

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 Submerging Shorelines

• Shoreline below current sea level

• Features include
– Drowned beaches
– Submerged dune topography
– Drowned river valleys (estuaries)

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 Changing Sea Level
Two major processes can change sea level:
• Local tectonic processes
• Global (eustatic) changes in sea level

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 Changing Sea Level
• Local tectonic processes
– Example: the Pacific coast of the United
States is currently being uplifted.
– Isostatic adjustments – rebound of Earth’s
crust after removal of heavy loads or
sinking with application of heavy loads
• Ice-loading from glaciers during ice ages

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 Changing Sea Level
• Global (eustatic) changes in sea level
– Sea level changes worldwide due to
• Change in amount of available sea water
• Change in ocean basin capacity

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Eustatic Changes in Sea Level
Some Mechanisms
• Ice ages lock seawater up in ice (glaciation) –
sea level goes down
• Ice melting after an ice age (deglaciation) – sea
level rises

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 Eustatic Changes in Sea Level
• Also caused by thermal expansion and
contraction of seawater
• Physical property of water: warmer water
expands and cooler water contracts.
• Sea level rises and falls in response to
seawater temperature.
– This is roughly 2 meters (6.6 feet) per 1°C
(1.8°F) change in temperature.

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 Pleistocene Epoch and Today
• From about 2 million to 10,000 years ago,
a series of four ice ages affected Earth.
• Sea level was at least 120 meters
(400 feet) below today’s sea level.
• If all remaining ice on Earth melted today,
sea level would rise another 70 meters
(230 feet).

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Global Warming and Changing Sea Level
• Globally averaged
temperatures – about 0.6°C
(1.1°F) warmer over last
130 years
• Sea level rose 10-15 cm
(4-10 in) over past
100 years
• As global warming continues,
we will see a higher sea level.

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 United States Coasts
• Atlantic coast
• Pacific coast
• Gulf coast

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 Atlantic Coast
• Most coasts open to storm wave attack
• Barrier islands common from
Massachusetts south
• Bedrock
– Florida bedrock is resistant limestone.
– Northward through New Jersey is comprised
of easily erodable recent deposits.
– New York through Maine has glacier-affected
rocks.

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 Atlantic Coast
• Strong storms called nor’easters can
damage the coast north of Cape Hatteras,
NC.
• Nor’easters can generate storm waves
up to 6 meters (20 feet).

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 Atlantic Coast
• Drowned river valleys common
• Average erosion is 0.8 meter (2.6 feet) per
year; sea is migrating landward
• Delaware, New York, and Georgia have
the most serious erosion problem.

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Atlantic Coast

• Barrier islands
• Drowned river
valleys

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 Gulf Coast
• Low tidal range
• Generally low wave energy
• Tectonically subsiding
• Mississippi delta dominates
– Locally sea level rises due to compaction of
delta sediments
• Average rate of erosion is 1.8 meters
(6 feet) per year

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 Pacific Coast
• Tectonically rising
• Experiencing less erosion than Atlantic or Gulf
coasts
• Open exposure to high energy waves
• Average rate of erosion 0.005 meter
(0.016 feet) per year

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 Hard Stabilization
• Structures built to decrease coastal
erosion and interfere with sand movement
• Also called armoring of the shore
• Often results in unwanted outcomes
– Some structures may increase wave erosion

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 Hard Stabilization
• Four major types of stabilization
structures:
1. Groins and groin fields
2. Jetties
3. Breakwaters
4. Seawalls

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Groins and Groin Fields
• Built perpendicular to
the beach
– Often made of rip rap, or
large blocky material
• Traps sand upcoast,
which can cause
erosion downstream of
the longshore current
• May necessitate a groin
field, or a series of
groins built along a
beach
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 Jetties
• Built perpendicular to shore
• Built in pairs
• Built to protect harbor entrances

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 Breakwaters
• Built parallel to a shoreline
• Designed to protect harbors from waves
• Can cause excessive erosion, requiring
dredging to keep area stable

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 Seawalls
• Destructive to
environment
• Designed to armor
coastline and protect
human developments
• One large storm can
remove beach
• Wave activity eventually
undermines seawall
structure; need continual
repair or will collapse

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 Alternatives to Hard Stabilization

• Three major alternatives

1. Construction restrictions
2. Beach replenishment
3. Relocation

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 Alternatives to Hard Stabilization

• Construction restrictions
– Simplest alternative
– Limit building near shorelines
– Paradoxically, National Flood Insurance
Program encouraged construction

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 Alternatives to Hard Stabilization

• Beach replenishment
– Sand added to beach/longshore current
– Expensive; costs between $5 and $10
per cubic yard
– Sand must be dredged from elsewhere.

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 Alternatives to hard stabilization

• Relocation
– Move structures rather than protect them in areas
of erosion

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