GEOL 106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Wavelength, Wave Power, Frequency
25 Apr 2019
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Impact of coastal processes is considerable as many populated areas are near the coast: more than 50% of the world"s pop. are at coastal regions; larger pop. = more coastal problems will increase (pop. den is an issue: coastal hazards will increase w/ global climate change; sea lvl rise & extreme weather events on coasts. Waves impinge on the bottom and become steeper. As waves move to shallow water, wave length and velocity decrease but wave height increases: waves are unstable when the wave height is greater than about 10% of the wave length. In contrast, the large plunging breakers cause coastal erosion. Beach: landform consisting of loose material (sand, or gravel that has accumulated by wave action at shoreline, can consist of quartz [sio2], broken shells, corals, volcanic rock. Key parts of a beach landform: berms: flat backshore areas formed by deposition of sediments where waves expend last bit of energy.
