How Coastal Landforms Are Created: Erosion, Deposition, and Tectonics

Erosional Features

Waves, currents, tides, wind, and ice wear away rock and sediment, carving cliffs, headlands, sea arches, stacks, fjords, and cirques.

Depositional Features

Sediment dropped by rivers, waves, currents, and wind builds beaches, spits, bars, dunes, deltas, floodplains, and loess deposits.

Tectonic Features

Uplift creates raised cliffs, marine terraces, and coastal mountains. Subsidence forms bays, estuaries, lagoons, and rias.

Key Landforms

• Beaches – wave-deposited sand/gravel slopes.
• Cliffs/Headlands – wave-eroded resistant rock.
• Bays/Estuaries/Lagoons – submerged valleys or barrier-enclosed waters.
• Deltas/Floodplains – river-borne sediment fans.
• Fjords – glacially carved, flooded valleys.

These processes operate over millennia, constantly reshaping coastlines.