The coast, and wider littoral zone

The littoral zone

↳ A zone of dynamic equilibrium with many inputs, processes and outputs causing rapid change

• Offshore → Beyond the influence of breaking waves
• Nearshore → Intertidal & within the breaker zone, often used for leisure, fishing etc
• Backshore → Above high tide & the influence of wave patterns

Classification of coasts

Characteristic	Low energy	High energy
Waves	Less powerful, constructive waves, long fetches	More powerful, destructive waves, long fetches
Processes	Deposition & transport. Sediment from rivers, LSD and nearshore currents	Erosion & transport. Sediment from eroded land, mass movement & weathering
Landforms	Beaches, spits, bars, sand dunes, mudflats & salt marshes	Cliffs, wave-cut platforms, arches, sea caves, stacks
General location	Sheltered from large waves, lowland coasts, coastal plain landscapes	Exposed to largest waves, highland and lowland coasts, rocky landscape

Rocky coasts

• Cliffs vary in height from a few metres to hundreds of metres
• Cliffs are formed from rock, but the hardness of these rocks is very variable
• Subject to erosion
• Tend to be steep or vertical in profile
• Also attacked by weathering and mass movement processes
• Often a high energy environment

Coastal plains

• Land gradually slopes towards the sea across an area of deposited sediment
• Deposited landscapes of sand, shingle and mud
• Dominated by processes of accretion ∴ the coastline advances seaward
• Often a low energy environment