Chapter 18
Landforms Made by Waves and Wind
This chapter examines the processes and landforms that result when wind energy moves
surface materials, either directly as wind or indirectly as waves. Both waves and wind are
driven by the rotation and unequal surface heating of the Earth. Unlike fluvial action and
mass wasting, wind and waves can move material uphill against the force of gravity.
 Shoreline refers to the line of contact between water and land, while coastline refers
to the zone of influence of coastal processes.
 Wave action is the most important agent shaping coastal landforms. Waves
approaching a shoreline are slowed by the drag of the bottom, become steeper, and
eventually collapse to form breakers.
 The energy of breakers expended along a coastline causes erosion and transportation
of shoreline materials.
 Weak or soft shoreline materials are eroded rapidly by wave action to form marine
scarps, while more resistant materials are eroded slowly to form marine cliffs.
 Beaches are thick wedge-shaped accumulations of sand shaped by the swash and
backwash of water along the shoreline.
 Waves striking a shoreline at an oblique angle cause littoral drift: the movement of
sediment along the shore by the processes of beach drift and longshore drift.
 The sands transported by littoral drift can form spits, bars, and pocket beaches along
a coast.
 Variations in sediment transport along a coast can lead to progradation (building out)
and retrogradation (cutting back) of the shoreline.
 Tides are regular fluctuations in sea level caused by the gravitational forces of the sun
and moon.
 Tides drive ebb and flood currents which redistribute fine sediments within bays and
estuaries.
 Coastlines of submergence result from partial drowning of the coast by a rise in sea
level or sinking of the land. Ria coasts and fjord coasts are deeply embayed with bold
relief.
 Coastlines of emergence, where submarine deposits become exposed, usually have
gentle relief and slope gently toward the ocean. Repeated crustal uplift produces
barrier island coasts while rapid emergence can produce raised shorelines and
marine terraces.
 Coastlines created when new land is built out into the ocean include delta and volcano
coasts as well as coral reef coasts.
 Global sea level has fluctuated substantially in the past and is presently rising slowly.
The present rise may be due to the melting of glacier ice and thermal expansion of the
oceans caused by global warming.
 Wind action is capable of moving dry, fine, loose sediments that are not protected by
a vegetation cover and is an effective landforming agent in deserts, semiarid regions,
and along coasts.
 Wind erosion includes abrasion and deflation. The wind drives loose sand and dust
particles against exposed surfaces in a process of abrasion.
 The removal of loose particles from the ground surface by wind is called deflation.
Deflation can produce blowouts, desert pavements, and dust storms. Clay and silt
particles are lifted high into the air and carried long distances, while sand particles are
lifted only with moderately strong winds and are only carried one to two meters above
the ground.
 Sand dunes form where there is an abundant source of sand available for movement
by wind.
 Variations in wind conditions, vegetation cover, and sand abundance produce a wide
variety of dune types. Some of the more important are:
 Barchan dunes - individual, crescent-shaped dunes with arms pointing downwind
 Transverse dunes - wave-like dunes with a crest aligned perpendicular to the
wind direction
 Parabolic dunes - crescent-shaped dunes with the dune crest bowed outward in a
downwind direction.
 Longitudinal dunes – long, narrow ridges oriented parallel with the prevailing
wind direction
 Loess is a sheet-like deposit of wind-transported silt. Extensive loess deposits in North
America were derived from fresh glacial deposits exposed at the end of the last ice
age.
 Human disturbance of the vegetation cover in semiarid regions can expose the soil to
induced deflation or wind erosion.