Originate in settings where there is a relative sea level fall - where land surface is rising at a faster rate than sea level is rising. West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA Sea Cliffs and Fronting Wave Cut Platform
Dec 31, 2015
Originate in settings where there is a relative sea level fall - where land surface is rising at a faster rate than sea level is rising.
West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA
Sea Cliffs and Fronting Wave Cut Platform
Sea Cliff Retreat – Processes and Timing
1. Abrasion of a Basal Notch
2. Thresholded Failure
3. Comminution Lag - Protective Feedback
Episodic Sea Cliff Failure Retreat History
Figure from Hapke and Richmond, 2002, Marine Geology
grain entrainment - abrasion - positive feedbackbeach development - wave energy dissipation - negative feedback
Sea Cliff Erosion – feedbacks*
after: Ruggiero et al., 2001
What about influence of lithology?
Correlation of Wave Runup and Sea Cliff Retreat
Tectonically Active Margin:Santa Cruz Mountains and SF Peninsula
Image courtesy of USGS / PG&E Cooperative Research
Highway 1 near Santa Cruz, California
Erosional Geomorphic Features - Marine Terraces
Note sharp edges of the modern (actively forming) sea cliffs and diffuse, scraps of terrace treads high in the landscape
Marine Terrace Generation and Degradation*
Animation by Robert S. Anderson:http://geomorph.geology.ufl.edu/~adamsp/Outgoing/Animations/bobs_terrace_movie.mov
Isostatic Uplift and Landform Preservation
Holocene Beach Ridges - Sweden - isostatic uplift from deglaciation since late Pleistocene = 2mm/yr
Karstostasy - Idealized
Animation by Peter N. Adams:http://geomorph.geology.ufl.edu/~adamsp/Outgoing/Animations/FlaEpeir_Run109.mov