Coastal Erosion

Wave energy: 50 Wave approach angle: 30° Sediment supply: 40 Sea-level rise: 0 Rock hardness: 50 Click the coast to place:

Presets

Readout

Shoreline retreat—

Transport rate—

Mean beach width—

Eroded vs deposited—

Waves arriving at an angle drive longshore drift: sediment zig-zags along the coast. Headlands erode, bays fill and smooth. Drift builds spits where the coast turns. Groynes trap sediment updrift (starving downdrift); rising sea level and storms accelerate retreat.