Erosion through Waves and wind: Chapter 8

Section 5 and 6

Waves

• How do waves form?

• The energy in waves comes from wind that blows across the water’s surface

• The energy causes water particles to move up and down; they do NOT move forward

Waves erode the shorelines in two ways

• Impact = hit with great intensity• Abrasion = Erode the land away• The sediments in the waves wear

away the land like sandpaper wears away wood

Landforms Created by Wave Erosion

• Sea caves: Where rock is softer, the waves erode the area away over a period of time creating a “hollow area” in the rock

Wave-cut cliff:

• Waves erode the soft rock along the base of a steep coast

Sea arch:

• Forms when waves erode a layer of softer rock that underlies a layer of harder rock

Waves shape the land through deposition as well!!

• When waves slow down, the water drops sediments to the ground

• Beaches = formed from deposition• Spit = A beach that projects like a

finger out into the water. Created from currents in the water.

Erosion through Wind

• Deflation: The process by which wind removes surface materials

• The stronger the wind, the larger the particles it erodes

• Wind erosion is very similar to moving water erosion when it comes to the particles it carries

• Weakest agent of erosion

Wind erosion

• If there’s a slight depression in the ground, wind erosion may form a larger bowl-shaped hollow called a blowout.

Sediment carried by wind

• Sediments are deposited when the wind slows down or hits an obstacle

• Loess- (Les)particles of clay and silt eroded and deposited by the wind

• Sand dunes- coarser sediments eroded and deposited by the wind