Geology 140 - Environmental Geology
Course Syllabus Course Schedule Assignments Department Home Page

Kusnick Home Page

Coastal Concerns

1. At Living with Coastal Change, (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), visit each of the active pages, starting with:

A. Coastal Basics

How do beaches form? How do they change from summer to winter?

 

 

What causes the longshore current? How is sediment moved along the shore?

 

 

How are the East Coast and West Coast of North America different?

 

 

What is a littoral cell? Where does the sand entering a littoral cell come from?

 

 

On the map of the Oceanside Littoral Cell, click the boxes for names, rivers and dams, and then choose "graph image". Note what happens to sediment load over time.

 

 

How do sea cliffs retreat? How does the platform form?

 

 

B. Return to the Home page, then click on "Current Challenges". Start with "First Responders". Then click through the other pages in this section.

What function do beaches serve?

 

 

How have human activities changed beaches?

 

 

How can we restore the sand budget at the beach?

 

 

What kind of structures are used to "armor" the beach? What impact do these structures have?

 

 

C. Return to the Home page, then click on "Climate Change." Click through the pages in this section, starting with "The Past".

What is likely to happen to the Southern California coast in the future with a warming climate?