The Coastal System

The Coastal System

1. Open System

   • Inputs are received across the boundary of the system
   • Outputs are transferred across the boundary of the system

2. Inputs

   • Energy
     • Drives the system
     • Provided by
       • Waves
       • Winds
       • Tides
       • Currents
     • Irregularly boosted by tidal waves
     • Spatial variations, resulting from
       • Strength in the wind
       • Strength in the fetch
       • Number of storms, and the intensity of these storms
     • Temporal variations, come as a result of a seasonal, or daily scale
   • Sediment
     • Provided in the system from the erosion of the coastlines
     • Most sediment comes from outside the system
       • Brought mainly from rivers transporting ranges of sediment from land to sea
       • Weathering and mass-movement from cliff faces
   • Changes in sea levels
   • Human activites

3. Outputs

   • Coastal landforms, both erosive and depositional
   • Accumulations of sediment above the tidal limit
   • Loss of wave energy

4. Processes

   • Erosion
   • Constructive wave action
   • Longshore drift
     • Main agent that relocates material
     • Relocates material, from erosional coastlines, to where depositional landforms are constructive
   • The wind
     • Wind can also carry materials from the shoreline inland