Coastal Features

Features of Erosion and

Deposition

Features of Erosion

These include

• Headlands

• Cliffs

• Caves

• Arches

• Stacks

• Stumps

Headlands

• A headland is like a tongue of land that

projects out into the sea.

• It is formed when the sea erodes away the

softer rock, leaving behind the stronger

one.

Headlands

Cliffs

• Cliffs form when

the rock is very

strong.

• The stronger the

rock, the

stepper the cliff

will be.

Cliffs

• Cliffs form when the rock face is undercut by the sea.

• This forms a notch.

• When the notch is deep enough, the cliff face will fall.

Caves

• Sea caves will form

where the sea finds a

crack in the headland

or cliff face.

• The sea will widen

the crack till it

becomes a cave.

Caves (Malta)

Dwejra, Gozo. This is the opening of the

Inland Sea.

Blue Grotto, Zurrieq.

Arches

• Arches form when the cave goes from one part of the headland to the other.

• This leaves something that looks very much like a window.

Arches Arches Arches Arches

• A famous arch

in the Maltese

Islands is “it-

Tieqa” of

Gozo.

Stacks

• When the upper

part of the arch

falls, a column

of rock will form

in the sea.

Stump

• When the

stack is

eroded away

by the sea, all

that remains

is a stump.

Depositon

• Features of Deposition include

– Beaches and

– Spits.

Beaches

• Sandy Beaches (ramliet) form where

the water is quiet enough for the

material that is carried in the water to

be deposited.

• They usually form between headlands.

Spits

• Spits are like a

tongue of sand

and small rocks

that project out

into the sea.

Classwork

• Make a sketch

of the following

and mark on it

the following

• Stack

• Cave

• Wave cut notch