Coastal Features and Coastal Landscapes

A coastal landscape is a section of coastline that has a range of coastal features; some erosional, some depositional. It is distinguishable from neighbouring coastal landscapes by prevailing characteristics that dominate the form of the coastline there.

A coastal landscape will be an interaction between:

• The nature and structure of the rock or materials constituting the coastline.
• The climate component determining the range and intensity of weathering processes.
• The marine processes operating to produce features of erosion and deposition.
• The input of energy and sediment into the coastal zone.
• The amount of time that has passed to develop or interrupt processes operating to produce features.

Different coastal landscapes may represent:

• A high energy coastal environment dominated by developing features of erosion
• A low energy coastal environment dominated by relatively stable features of deposition.
• A variable energy (dynamic) coastal environment dominated by transfers of sediment between phases of erosion and periods of deposition.
• A coastal environment with little long-term change and time for the full evolution of coastal landforms into a state of stable equilibrium.
• A metastable coastal environment where processes (and thus, features) change rapidly such as with tectonic uplift, leaving relict features apparent.
• A historic coastal environment with evidence of ancient processes, sea levels and features with more recent features superimposed as a result of different conditions operating at times up to the present.