What does this wave cut platform indicate?
What does this wave-cut platform indicate? A lowering of sea level relative to the land.
What are wave cut platforms examples?
Usage of term ‘wave-cut’
- Raised beach and shore platform, Bleik, Norway.
- Shore platforms from Lake Bonneville (Pleistocene), Utah, United States.
- Shore platform at St Bees Head, UK.
- Jurassic wave-cut platform at Tedbury Camp, southern England.
What happens to wave cut platforms over time?
During a stable sea level period, high energy waves cut into and drive back sea cliffs resulting in a broad slightly seaward dipping wave cut platform. Wave cut platforms are preserved as marine terraces when sea level changes relative to the wave cut platform.
Why is a wave cut platform left?
Cliffs and wave-cut platforms Cliffs are shaped through erosion and weathering . Soft rock erodes quickly and forms gentle sloping cliffs, whereas hard rock is more resistant and forms steep cliffs. The backwash carries away the eroded material, leaving a wave-cut platform.
How does a wave-cut platform become a Marine Terrace?
Marine terraces result from the interaction of two geologic processes: uplift of the land surface and the natural rise and fall of sea level over hundreds of thousands of years. When uplift is fast enough, it causes wave-cut surfaces to be preserved as marine terraces above the influence of the ocean.
Where is a wave-cut platform in the UK?
The flat wave-cut platform just below the village at Robin Hood’s Bay with cliffs extending to the north.
What is left behind after cliffs retreat due to erosion?
At the same time that the base of the cliff is being eroded, the cliff face and its structure are being weakened by weathering processes. The cliff retreats, leaving behind a flat wave cut platform.
Is a wave-cut platform formed?
wave-cut platform, also called Abrasion Platform, gently sloping rock ledge that extends from the high-tide level at the steep-cliff base to below the low-tide level. It develops as a result of wave abrasion; beaches protect the shore from abrasion and therefore prevent the formation of platforms.
Why there are cliffs and abandoned marine terraces along our coasts?
Earthquakes on California’s coastal faults, along with other processes that deform the Earth’s crust, cause uplift of the land surface. When uplift is fast enough, it causes wave-cut surfaces to be preserved as marine terraces above the influence of the ocean.
Why are wave cut platforms flat?
This is usually the result of recent faulting or volcanic activity. Plunging cliffs are only slightly affected by wave erosion, therefore the formation of abrasion platforms is inhibited. At the base of most cliffs along a rocky coast one finds a flat surface at about the mid-tide elevation….
What is bays and headlands?
Headlands are formed when the sea attacks a section of coast with alternating bands of hard and soft rock. The areas where the soft rock has eroded away, next to the headland, are called bays. Geology is the study of the types of rocks that make up the Earth’s crust.
What is the difference between a wave cut platform and notch?
A wave-cut platform is formed when: The sea attacks a weakness in the base of the cliff. For example, this could be a joint in chalk. A wave-cut notch is created by erosional processes such as hydraulic action and abrasion . As the notch becomes larger, the cliff becomes unstable and collapses as the result of gravity.
Is this a wave cut notch on a chalk cliff?
The photograph shows a wave cut notch being formed at the base of a chalk cliff. The waves can erode only the parts of the cliff that they can reach, so the base is eroded faster than the rock above it. The notch undercuts the cliff, leaving the rock above it unsupported and liable to collapse.
Where are the wavecut notch on the coast?
The photograph on the right shows a close-up view of a wavecut notch around the base of a chalk stack on the coast near Dover, Kent. At high tide the water level would be just above the top of the green section, and that’s where the effects of hydraulic action and attrition are greatest.
What are cliffs and wave-cut platforms?
Cliffs and Wave-cut platforms. Cliffs and wave-cut platforms are landforms commonly found along the coast. Processes of coastal erosion and are responsible for shaping cliffs. Less resistant (soft) rock erodes quickly forming gentle sloping cliffs. More resistant (hard) rock forms steep cliffs.