Quoted By:
Erosion is greatest when high energy destructive waves break against the headland eroding it, this is most affective at high tide because the waves come closer to the shore, meaning they can hit the headland with more energy because it will not have been lost getting to the shore. The waves erode the cliff making wave cut notches, and the excess sediment from the cliff is carried away by the waves backwash, meaning the destructive waves can get to a new part of the cliff that has not been eroded, and it will erode that. This repeating process eventually creates a wave cut platform which slopes towards the sea at a slight angle from the waves backwash dragging sediment down it which causes traction erosion. The landform that is created, a wave cut platform, is a large rock floor that is flooded at high tide, but can be shallow or even dry at low tide. These shallow parts can then be subject to freeze thaw or chemical erosion, depending on the type of rock that the headland is made from. Freeze thaw weathering is where the cracks in the rock are filled with water that then freezes during the nights and water in its ice form takes up more volume than in its liquid form, so the crack in the rock expands. Because of this, large chunks of rock can be separated and weathered daily which greatly affects different landforms such as cliffs because it can make them be formed and retreat. Chemical weathering is where a rock, such as limestone being dissolved by water containing a weak acid. This can make cliffs retreat as sediment from the cliff is dissolved away and carried out into the sea. It can also speed up the wave cut notch process by breaking down the rock at the same time as the destructive wave does, which will speed up the rate of reaction. If it were to be a warm day that would further speed up the rate of reaction because chemical reactions are faster in hotter temperatures than in cold ones.
