Sea cliff
Also called: Wave-cut cliff · Topic: Landforms and their Evolution: Rivers, Groundwater, Glaciers, Waves and Wind · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 2 "Shaping of the Earth's Surface"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Landforms and their Evolution"
Meaning
A sea cliff is a steep rock face along the shore. It can be a few metres to 30 m or more high. Breaking waves keep hitting the base of coastal hills and cut a notch into it. The rock above loses its support and falls, so the cliff retreats (moves back) inland over time. A flat wave-cut platform is left at its foot. Sea cliffs mark coasts where erosion is stronger than deposition.
Example
The Varkala cliffs in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, rise straight above the beach on India's west coast. Waves keep eating away at their base.
Don't confuse with
- Wave-cut platform: this is the flat rock surface left at the foot of a retreating cliff. The cliff is the steep face above it.
- Sea stack: this is a separate pillar of rock standing in the sea. A cliff is still joined to the mainland.
Related concepts
- Emergent coast
- Submergent coast
- Ria coast
- Longshore current
- Coastal erosion
- Wave-cut platform
- Sea cave
- Sea arch
- Sea stack