Coastal Erosion — Revision notes

Coastal erosion

The wearing away and breaking down of rock, soil, and sediment at the coast by the action of the sea, followed by the movement of that broken material

Hydraulic action

A physical erosion process where a wave slams into a cliff, trapping and violently compressing air inside rock cracks until they widen and break

Abrasion

An erosion process where the sea uses waves to fire sand, shingle, pebbles, and boulders straight at the cliff face like sandpaper

Attrition

A process where loose rocks and pebbles being churned around in the waves smash into each other, getting smaller, rounder, and smoother (does not touch the cliff)

Solution

A chemical erosion process where weak acids in seawater and rainwater dissolve certain rocks like limestone and chalk into invisible dissolved minerals

Wave-cut notch

A hollow cut into the base of a cliff by erosion concentrated between high and low tide

Wave-cut platform

A flat rocky ledge left behind at the base of a retreating cliff as it collapses and moves backwards

Cave

A hollow carved through a headland when hydraulic action opens up a crack and abrasion widens it

Arch

Formed when a cave is worn all the way through a headland to the other side

Stack

An isolated pillar of rock left standing when the roof of an arch collapses under its own weight

What this lesson covers

How well do you know each one? Be honest: red means go back over it.

• Define erosion and explain what coastal erosion meansNot yetSort ofGot it
• Describe the four processes of coastal erosion — hydraulic action, abrasion, attrition and solutionNot yetSort ofGot it
• Explain how hydraulic action wears away a cliffNot yetSort ofGot it
• Describe the sequence from wave-cut notch to wave-cut platformNot yetSort ofGot it
• Explain how caves become arches, and arches become stacksNot yetSort ofGot it
• Interpret coastal retreat-rate data from a real coastline such as HoldernessNot yetSort ofGot it

Test yourself

Cover the answer, say it out loud, then check the full quiz on the lesson page.

• Which process forces air into cracks in a cliff?
• Which of these does NOT wear away the cliff face?
• How far has the Holderness coast retreated since Roman times?

Topic quiz

11 questions on this topic only — not mixed with anything else, one at a time.

Spelling challenge

Read the definition, then type the correct spelling of the term. Uses the same terms as above.