Coastal Landforms

Coastal landforms are the visible results of the processes you studied in the previous lesson. For the AQA GCSE exam, you need to know how each landform is created and be able to identify them on photographs and OS maps. This lesson covers both erosional and depositional landforms.

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Erosional Landforms

Erosional landforms are created where destructive waves and other processes wear away the coast. They are most commonly found on headlands and exposed coastlines made of resistant rock.

Headlands and Bays

When a coastline is made up of alternating bands of hard and soft rock, differential erosion occurs:

1. Soft rock (e.g., clay, sand) erodes more quickly, forming bays.
2. Hard rock (e.g., limestone, chalk) erodes more slowly, forming headlands that protrude out to sea.
3. Once headlands form, wave energy is concentrated on the headlands (wave refraction) and reduced in the bays, so bays become sheltered and accumulate beaches.

UK Example: The Dorset coast (part of the Jurassic Coast) shows excellent examples of headlands and bays. The Foreland (headland) is made of resistant chalk, while Swanage Bay has been eroded from softer sand and clay.

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Cliffs and Wave-Cut Platforms