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Journal of Coastal Zone Management

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ISSN: 2473-3350
Research Article

Coastal Forces and Processes

Sadia Afrin Kamal*
Department of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT
Coastal zone is where the ocean, land and sea interact with each other. It is a very active and dynamic area where
continuous coastal forces like-wind, erosion, tides, sea level rise are seen. These forces help to create various coastal
phenomena and landforms that are important for the environment as well as biological diversity. So these forces and
processes impact not only the people living in the coastal environment but also their livelihoods. The coastal zone of
Bangladesh covers about 32% of the total area landmass which includes a total of 19 districts. This article describes
the different types of activities undertaking in the coastal environment and how these actions have an influence on
the costal life directly or indirectly.
Keywords: Coastal zone; Coastal forces and processes; Effects of coastal processes

INTRODUCTION • These processes are driven by various types of driving forces

such as Wind, Waves, Tides, Currents, Coastal erosion and
About 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, and the accretion Sea level rise [1].
coast, which forms the interface between land and water, is the
site of an array of geographic processes and a range of landforms. Wind
Coastal ecosystems are good habitats for innumerable amount of
flora and fauna, including salt marshes, mangroves, sea grass and Wind is the primary key to almost all other coastal processes. It
coral reefs. Coastal areas are unique and typical landmasses plays a vital role in shaping and changing the coastal
bordered by the sea and ocean. Coastal zones are very sensitive environment. It is also the major generating and sustaining force
and are not static but rather dynamic environments that involve of waves. The several effects of wind on coastal geomorphology
transformation mass and energy through different forces, also includes wind stress on the water surface in major storms
producing rocky coasts as well as beaches, dunes, barriers and such as hurricanes and typhoons, storm surges, upwelling and
tidal inlets. These forces and processes involve movement and down-welling processes in the coastal ocean and sea breeze
dissipation of large amounts of energy capable of causing rapid effects.
and spectacular changes in landforms along coasts. The major
environmental conditions affecting coasts are geology, sediment Waves
supply/characteristics and external energy sources (winds, waves
Waves are the dominant force driving the nature of a beach. The
and tides). Human activity is an emerging forcing factor on most
energy carried through waves moves beach sediment and
coats worldwide.
transforms beach shape. The more energy, the greater the extent
The 3 principle marine processes that influence coasts are: of change. Waves get their energy from the wind. As the wind
blows over the surface of the sea, it creates friction. This
• Transportation-when waves and tides transfer broken, eroded
frictional drag causes water particles to rotate and their energy is
materials somewhere else.
transferred forward in the form of a wave. The amount of energy
• Erosion-breaking down of the land by the force of waves.
carried through a wave can be determined by the wave structure
• Disposition-process by which winds and tides lose energy,
(Figure 1). Waves are characterized by-
cease to transport and release eroded materials, thus
depositing them. • Crests or peaks: High spots of a wave.

Correspondence to: Sadia Afrin Kamal, Student at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; E-mail: [email protected]
Received: October 25, 2021; Accepted: November 08, 2021; Published: November 15, 2021
Citation: Afrin Sk (2021) Coastal Forces and Processes. J Coast Zone Manag. S5:002.
Copyright: © 2021 Afrin Sk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

J Coast Zone Manag, Vol.24 Iss.S5 No:1000002 1

 Afrin Sk

• Troughs: Low spots of a wave.

• Wavelength: The horizontal distance between two crests or
troughs.
• Wave height: The difference in height between a crest and a
trough.
• Velocity: The rate of forward motion of the wave peak.
• Period: The time between successive crests passing the same
point.
• Fetch: The distance over water that the wind blows in a single
direction.
• Amplitude: The maximum positive displacement from the
undisturbed position of the medium to the top of a crest.

Figure 2: Constructive and destructive waves.

Another type of wave can be seen near the coast shoreline that
are called breaking waves. Breaking waves generally occur in the
surf zone where the amplitude reaches the point where the crest
of the wave actually overturns. The 4 basic types of breaking
water waves, such as-(a) Spilling, (b) Plunging, (c) Surging and (d)
Collapsing.
Spilling breakers: Occurs when the ocean floor has a gradual
slope.
Figure 1: Parts of a wave.
Plunging breakers: Occurs when the ocean floor has a steep
slope, or sudden depth changes, such as from a reef or sandbar.
Surging breakers: Originate from long period, low steepness
When waves breaks, the water rushes up towards the elevated waves and/or steep beach profiles.
parts of the beach. This movement is called the swash. And
Collapsing breakers: Collapsing waves are a cross between
when it comes down slowly backwards, it is called backwash.
plunging and surging.
There are 3 main factors that affect the strength of a wave: Wave breaking leads to an increase in the mean water level
which is known as wave setup. As waves break, wave energy is
• The strength and speed of the wind
dissipated. This results in a decreasing mass flux, which is
• The duration of the wind
balanced by an increasing water level: wave setup. As a
• The fetch
consequence, a near-bed return current (undertow) is generated,
balancing the onshore mass flux (Figure 3).
Wind-generation of waves involves a transfer of energy from
moving air to water surface (Summerfield 1991). Waves are also
generated by low atmospheric pressure (storm surges) and
displacement of the ocean floor, in particular by earthquakes
(tsunami). Within the surf-zone, waves are the major mechanism
for sand movement, therefore coastal sedimentation and
longshore drift. Each wave type has a different effect on
shoreline weathering and coastal erosion. Waves are capable of
creating two types of processes-(a) Constructive waves and (b)
Destructive waves.

Constructive waves: They are created in calm weathers and are

less powerful than destructive waves. They break on the shore
and deposit materials, building up beaches [2]. They have a long
wavelength and are low in height.

Destructive waves: They are created from big, strong waves when
the wind is powerful. They tend to erode the coast, where wave
has traveled over a long fetch. They have a short wavelength
(Figure 2).
Figure 3: Types of breaking waves.

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Tides results in the Coriolis effect which also influences ocean

currents. These currents are located at both the ocean surface
Tides result from the gravitational pull exerted on the ocean (surface currents) and in deep water below 300 meters (deep
water by the sun and moon. Because the moon is closer to currents).
Earth, it has more than twice the gravitational effect of the
distant sun. The motions of Earth, moon and sun with respect Currents in coastal seas are divided into 5 categories-
to one another produce semi-diurnal tides along most coasts in Tidal currents: Tidal currents are strongest in large water depths
which there are two highs and two lows approximately every 24 away from the coastline and in straits where the current is forced
hours. There are 2 important tides to take note of (1) Spring tide into a narrow area.
and (2) Neap tide.
Wind-generated currents: These currents are caused by the
Spring tide: The spring tide forms twice in a lunar cycle and direct action of the wind shear stress on the surface of water.
increases the tidal range by heightening the high trade mark and These are normally located in the upper layer of the water body.
lowering the low trade mark. This is caused by the alignment of
the sun and moon with their gravitational pull. Storm surge: It is the current generated by the total effect of the
wind shear stress and barometric pressure gradients over the
Neap tide: The neap tide produces a low tidal range, in that the entire area of water affected by a specific storm.
higher tide is lower than normal and lower tide is higher. This
occurs twice in the lunar cycle when the sun and moon are Currents in nearshore zone, which are largely responsible for
acting against each other (at 900 from each other). most coastal sediment movement and changing the landforms,
are of 2 types-
Tides are an important factor in considering coastal processes,
as their interaction with the coastal environment to a large Shore-parallel or longshore currents: It is the dominant current
extent determines the location of many coastal landforms. Tidal in the nearshore zone. It is generated by waves breaking at an
types determine the interval between tides and therefore the angle to the beach and form changes in water levels along the
time available for the shore to dry after high tide, which is shoreline and transport sand in, out and along a beach.
significant for shoreline weathering processes and biological Near-shore currents: Nearshore currents help to move sand in
activity. Additionally, tidal type affects the intensity of tidal the nearshore zone, they also transport water shoreward as waves
currents in case of narrow coastal embayments where tidal flows break and help to rebuild beaches after storm erosion.
are concentrated.
The major impact of tides is to shift the shoreline between high Coastal erosion and accretion
tide and low tide, and to generate tidal currents either parallel to
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or long-term
the coast, or at tidal inlets and estuaries, currents flowing into
removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the
the inlets and perpendicular to the coast (Figure 4).
action of waves, currents, tides or other impacts. In short, it is
the loss of coastal lands due to the net removal of sediments or
bedrock from the shoreline. Coastal erosion may be caused by
hydraulic action, abrasion, impact and corrosion by wind and
water and other natural or unnatural forces. Coastal erosion can
be either a rapid-onset hazard (occurs very quickly, a period of
days to weeks), or a slow-onset hazard (occurring over many years
or decades to centuries). Coastal erosion happens in the form of
several processes such like:
Hydraulic action: It occurs when waves striking a cliff face
compress air in cracks on the cliff face. This exerts pressure on
the surrounding rock and can progressively splinter and remove
pieces.
Attrition: It occurs when waves cause loose pieces of rock debris
to collide with each other and progressively become smaller and
rounder.
Solution: It is the process in which acids contained in sea water
will dissolve some types of rock, such as chalk or limestone.
Abrasion: This process occurs when waves break on cliff faces
Figure 4: Types of tide. and slowly erode it.
Corrosion: Also known as solution/chemical weathering occurs
Currents when the sea’s pH (below pH 7.0) corrodes rocks on a cliff face.
Ocean currents are continuous, direct movements of ocean Accretion is the seaward build-up of coastal land that occurs
water driven by winds, water density and tides. Earth’s rotation when the supply of sediment is greater than the erosive impacts

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of sea level rise and prevailing wave and wind conditions. It is an Effects of coastal processes on the environment
unusual phenomenon on barrier islands anywhere in the world
other than spits or islands associated with major river deltas. So Powerful waves can cause severe erosion problems along the
accretion is basically a process opposite of erosion. If a coastline coastal areas. All coastlines are affected by storms and other
is not in a healthy sustainable state, erosion can be more serious natural events that cause erosion; the combinations of storm
and accretion does not fully restore the original value of the surge at high tide with additional effects from strong waves
visible beach or foreshore, which leads to permanent beach loss create the most damaging conditions. On coastal headlands,
(Figure 5). erosion can lead to undercutting of cliffs and steep slopes and
contribute to mass wasting [5].
Ocean currents are an important abiotic factor that significantly
influences food webs and reproduction of marine organisms
and the marine ecosystems that they inhabit.
Upwelling currents bring cold nutrient-rich waters from the
ocean bottom surface, supporting many of the most important
fisheries and ecosystems in the world. Tidal currents erode and
transport sediments and thus play an increasingly important
role in local circulation near shore.
Erosion removes the topsoil from the ground, often removing
the seed bank that exists within soils. Further, this can introduce
toxins from pesticide and fertilizer applications into waterways.
Figure 5: Coastline features: Erosion and accretion. The combination of sea-level rise, land subsidence and isostatic
rebound creates both emergent and submergent coasts.
Sea level rise Rising sea levels will probably remove large areas of rich
biological habitat represented by existing coastal dunes, estuaries
Sea level rise is an increase in the level of the world’s oceans. It
and marshlands. Associated impacts may include changed water
is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the
quality, accumulation of wrack, retention of nutrients and other
added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the
contaminants. Moreover, the process of salinization and coastal
expansion of seawater as it warms. Rise of sea level poses a
inundation has been exacerbated by rising sea levels.
serious threat to coastal life around the world. Consequences
include increased intensity of storm surges, flooding and
damage to coastal areas [3]. CONCLUSION
UNEP (1989) showed 1.5 m sea level rise in Bangladesh coast by Coastal processes shape the physical environment, providing
2013, affecting 22,000 sq. km area with a population of 17 habitat such as nesting beaches, reefs and mangrove forests or
million affected. However subsidence is also a considerable seagrass beds. It also influences the hydrodynamics of an area
factor for sea level rise in Bangladesh. In this case it has been which, in turn, determine the ecological communities which are
noted that Ganges and Brahmaputra deliver approximately 1.6 able to establish in the coastal zone as well as critical life cycle
billion tons of sediment annually to the face of Bangladesh [4]. processes such as coral or fish spawning and recruitment. These
These sediments compensate the natural compaction and processes should be one of the main issues in coastal zone
subsidence of the delta and keep its size stable, relatively. So management; it is important to analyze the coastal structures
sediment replenishment is considered to balance subsidence of and discuss the impacts on them provided can serve as warning
the delta that results a net sea level rise (Figure 6). to save the environment in the future, or at least, decrease the
negative effects. Impacts to coastal processes can result in
changes to the factors marine environmental quality, benthic
communities and habitats, marine Fauna, landforms, inland
waters environmental quality, terrestrial flora and vegetation,
terrestrial fauna and social surroundings. The protection and
management of coastal areas should be supported by deep
knowledge of the coastal processes and of the interaction
between water motion, seabed topography and coastal
structures.

Figure 6: Potential impact of sea level rise in Bangladesh by 2100 REFERENCES

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2. Giuseppe B. Management and protection of coastal area, the
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Water Res. 2013; 6.

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3. Begum S, Fleming G. Climate change and sea level rise in Bangladesh, 5. Andrew D. Coastal processes and beaches. Nature Education
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