coastal erosion is often defined as the loss or displacement of land along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. In this case, landward retreat of the shoreline, measured to a given spatial datum, is described over a temporal scale of tides, seasons, and other short-term cyclic processes. Alternatively, it is defined as the process of long-term removal of sediment and rocks at the coastline, leading again to loss of land and retreat of the coastline landward. Coastal erosion may be caused by hydraulic action, abrasion, impact and corrosion by wind and water, and other forces, natural or unnatural.
Coastal Process
Abrasion
abrasion, also known as Corrasion, occurs when waves break on cliff faces and slowly erode it. As the sea pounds cliff faces it also uses the scree from other wave actions to batter and break off pieces of rock from higher up the cliff face which can be used for this same wave action and attrition.
Sand Depositing
Rivers carry sediments from the land to the sea. If wave action is high, a delta will not form. Waves will spread the sediments along the coastline to create a beach. Waves also erode sediments from cliffs and shorelines and transport them onto beaches.
Sand deposits in quiet areas along a shoreline to form a beach.
Beaches can be made of mineral grains, like quartz, rock fragments, and also pieces of shell or coral Quartz, rock fragments, and shell make up the sand along a beach.
Waves continually move sand along the shore. Waves also move sand from the beaches on shore to bars of sand offshore as the seasons change. In the summer, waves have lower energy so they bring sand up onto the beach. In the winter, higher energy waves bring the sand back offshore.
The Lake Erie Basin:
The Lake Erie Basin was formed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation. The basin was part of Glacial Lake Maumee until an eastern drainage opened at Niagara, at which point the Maumee River Watershed reversed its floweastward.
The Lake Erie basin is subject to shoreline flooding and erosion as a result of influences such as landforms along the shore, the orientation of the lake, wind and wave action, fluctuating water levels and the presence of shore protection structures. During the last thirty years many climatic events have resulted in conditions due to rapid rise in water levels in locations characterized by gentle nearshore profiles and exposure to wave action. Also, increased human activities, in the form of roadways and residential and industrial development, have occurred along the Lake Erie shoreline, including the low lying peninsulas of Point Pelee, Rondeau and Long Point.
So Why Is Lake Erie Prone To Flooding & Erosion?
Lake Erie is subject to water level changes due to long and short term variations in precipitation, storms and the amount and nature of runoff in the Great Lakes Basin
Annual water level fluctuations of 1.5 to 2 meters have occurred in irregular cycles and are due to basin-wide climate variations. For example, above average precipitation in the basin was recorded for 13 of 16 years between 1970 and 1985, while the rate of evaporation was lower than the long term average due to lower air temperatures This contributed to a 12% increase in water supply to the lakes, resulting in higher water levels in 1985/86. Lake levels are not controlled by dams or other structures at either the inlet or the outlet of Lake Erie.
Logging Tasks:
1. Go To The Posted Coordinates, Which Coastal Process Do You Think Is Here?
2. How Has Erosion Affected The Following,
A. The Shoreline
B. The Trees
C. The Sand Leading Up To The Water
3. Take A Picture With Lake Erie!
Once Your Answers Are Sent You May Log A Find :)
