TEXT: WAVE POWER
Coastlines, where the water meets land, are constantly changing. Water is the most powerful force of weathering (breaking down) and erosion (moving away) on Earth. As water splashes and flows, it weathers rocks and erodes rock and soil. This leaves behind specific formations on rocky shores.
Tall landforms at the coastline are battered by storms which causes rock to weather and erode, with the heavy pieces deposited (dropped off) at the base. This forms a cliff, a high steep face
of rock.
When waves crash especially hard in one place, a cave opening may form. This happens often at sea level, especially where rock is softer in one place.
When a section of land sticks out into the water, the waves can batter from both sides, and instead of a cave, the opening goes clear through and an arch is formed. An arch has some rocky land above an opening.
Sometimes, the top of the archway is so weathered it falls, this leaves a sea stack, a single formation sticking up like a candle in a cake. In these ways, the coastline is constantly being reshaped.
How do waves form cliffs, sea stacks, and arches?
How do waves form cliffs, sea stacks, and arches?