outline of coast: the outline of a coast as iewed from the sea or on a map Coast, geographical term that refers

to the zone of contact between a land surface and a large body of water. The term is usually applied to a land area that borders a sea or an ocean, such as the Atlantic coast or the Pacific coast. In common usage, the term coast is frequently interchanged with the term shore. Howe er, shore is also applied to the land bordering smaller bodies of water such as a la!e shore, where use of the term coast would be inappropriate.

Coastlines (Pinggir Laut/Pantai)

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Erosion
#rosion, remo al of roc! and soil material by natural processes, principally running water, glaciers, wa es, and wind. #rosion transports roc!y material after the process of weathering has bro!en bedroc! down into smaller, mo eable pieces. Through erosion the surface of the earth is constantly being sculptured into new forms. The shapes of continents are continuously changing, as wa es and tides cut into old land while silt from ri ers builds up new land. As ri ulets, streams, and ri ers cut their channels deeper, gullies become ra ines and ra ines become alleys. The $rand Canyon, more than "%&& m 'more than %&&& ft( deep, was produced by erosion probably within the past % million years. The o erall effect of the wearing down of mountains and plateaus is to le el the land) the tendency is toward the reduction of all land surfaces to sea le el. *or e+ample, in each ,&&&- to .&&&-year period the entire area drained by the /ississippi 0i er loses an a erage of 1& cm '"2 in( of altitude. 3pposing this tendency are olcanic eruptions and mo ements of the crust of the earth that 2 raise mountains, plateaus, and new islands. See $eology) $eomorphology

Weathering
4eathering initiates the erosion of roc!, causing alterations in the surface layers. In dry climates, the top layer of a roc! may e+pand from the heat of the sun and crac! off from the lower layers. If the roc! consists of se eral minerals, the minerals may e+pand at different rates and brea! up the roc!. In cold climates, frost brea!s up roc!s because rainwater, which seeps into crac!s and pores in the roc!, e+pands when it freezes. 0ain in damp climates acts chemically as well as mechanically in the weathering of roc!s. As the rain passes through the atmosphere it absorbs carbon dio+ide, forming carbonic acid, which dissol es some minerals and decomposes others. *eldspar, a common family of minerals in granite, is changed into clays, and certain minerals in basalt combine with o+ygen and water to form iron o+ides, such as limonite. Plants play a role in weathering as roots can split roc!s and e+tract soluble nutrients.

Water Erosion

4ater plays an important role in erosion by carrying away material that has been weathered and bro!en down. 4hen an area recei es more water 'in the form of rain, melting snow, or ice( than the ground can absorb, the e+cess water flows to the lowest le el, carrying loose material with it. $entle slopes are sub5ect to sheet and rill erosion, in which the runoff remo es a thin layer of topsoil without lea ing isible traces on the eroded surface. This erosion may be balanced by the formation of new soil. 3ften, howe er, especially in arid areas ha ing little egetation, the runoff lea es a pattern of gullies formed by ri ulets. 4ater can e en erode solid roc!, especially along streambeds where the stones that are carried with the current scour and abrade. # ery year ri ers deposit about 1.% million tons of eroded material into the oceans.

Glacial Erosion
$laciers are important agents of erosion. Although a glacier mo es slowly, it gradually remo es all the loose material from the surface o er which it tra els, lea ing bare roc! surfaces when the ice melts. 7esides remo ing loose material, glaciers acti ely erode the solid roc! o er which they tra el. 0oc! fragments that become embedded in the bottom and sides of the mo ing ice mass act as an abrasi e, grinding and scouring the bedroc! which forms the walls and floors of mountain alleys.

Wind Erosion
4ind is another acti e agent of erosion, especially in arid climates with little egetation. 4ind blowing across bare land lifts particles of sand and silt but lea es behind larger pebbles and cobbles. # entually, a surface layer of closely pac!ed stones, called a desert pa ement, is formed as the sand and silt is remo ed. The remo al of large quantities of loose material is called deflation. 8eflation lowers the landscape slowly, usually less than a meter '1 ft( in a thousand years. Howe er, deflation can occur more rapidly, as it did during the ".1&s in the southern parts of the $reat Plains of the 9nited :tates 'see 8ust 7owl(. 4inds may sometimes deposit sand in large piles, !nown as sand dunes.

Coastal Erosion
Coastal erosion of roc!y cliffs and sandy beaches results from the action of ocean wa es and currents. This is especially se ere during storms. In many parts of the world the loss of land due to coastal erosion represents a serious problem. The action of wa es, howe er, does not e+tend to a great depth, and the sea tends to cut a flat platform, characteristic of marine erosion, into coastal roc!s.

Human Impacts On Erosion

4ithout human acti ities, losses of soil through erosion would in most areas probably be balanced by the formation of new soil. 3n irgin land a mantle of egetation protects the soil. 4hen rain falls on a surface of grass or on the lea es of trees, some of the moisture e aporates before it can reach the ground. Trees and grass ser e as windbrea!s, and a networ! of roots helps to hold the soil in place against the action of both rain and wind. Agriculture and lumbering, as well as housing, industrial de elopment, and highway construction, howe er, partially or wholly destroy the protecti e canopy of egetation and greatly speed up erosion of certain !inds of soils. #rosion is less se ere with crops such as wheat, which co er the ground e enly, than with crops such as corn and tobacco, grown in rows.

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3 ergrazing, which in time can change grassland to desert, and careless culti ation ha e had disastrous effects in certain parts of the 9nited :tates. :ome historians belie e that soil erosion has been a determinant in the comple+ of causes underlying arious population shifts and the fall of certain ci ilizations. 0uins of towns and cities ha e been found in arid regions, such as the deserts of /esopotamia, indicating that agriculture was once widespread in the surrounding territory.

he End

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