Waves and Wind

Chapter 8 Section 5
How Waves Form
• Energy in waves comes from wind that blows across
the water’s surface
• As wind contacts water, energy is transferred
• Energy that water picks up from wind causes water
particles to move up and down as the wave goes
by; the water particles don’t move forward
• Only energy moves forward through the wave
• In deep water, a wave only affects the water near
the surface
• In shallow water, the wave drags the bottom,
creating friction, and slowing down.
• This friction and drop in speed causes the water to
begin to move forward
Erosion by Waves
• Waves are the major force of erosion along
coasts
• The energy in waves can break rock apart
and make small cracks larger
• Waves can erode land by abrasion
(sandpaper)
• Waves nearing shore gradually change
direction as parts of a wave begin to drag
on the bottom
• Headland- part of the shore that stick out into
the ocean and are slower to erode
Landforms Created by Wave
Erosion
• Waves erode the base of the land along a steep
coast
• The softer the rock, the quicker the erosion
• Sea cave- a hollow area in the rock eroded by
waves over time
• Sea arch- forms when waves erode a layer of
softer rock that underlies a layer of harder rock
• Sea Stack- a pillar of rock rising above the water
due to a collapsed sea arch

•
 Deposits by Waves
• Waves erode the land AND deposit sediment
• As waves reach the shore, they drop sediment to
form a beach
• Beach- an area of wave-washed sediment along a
coast
• Most waves hit the shore at an angle causing some
of the sediment to move down the beach with the
current
• Longshore drift- process in which beach sediment
moves down the beach with the current
• Spit- a beach that projects like a finger out into the
water formed by deposition due to longshore drift
How Wind Causes Erosion
• The main way wind
causes erosion is
by deflation- the
process by which
wind removes
surface materials
• Blowout- a bowl-
shaped hollow
caused by
deflation in a
slightly
Deposits resulting from
Wind Erosion
• Wind erosion and deposition may form sand
dunes and loess deposits
• Sand dunes result when wind meets an obstacle
• Sand dunes are most often made of coarser
sediments carried by wind
• Loess- fine, wind-deposited sediment often
deposited far from their source
• Thick loess deposits create valuable farmland
Review
• How do ocean waves form?
 Ocean waves form when wind makes contact with ocean
water and transfers some of its energy to the water.
• Describe two landforms created by wave erosion and two
landforms created by wave deposition.
 Sea cave, wave-cut cliff, sea arch, sea stack; beach, spit, and
barrier beach
• Describe how wind erodes the land
 Wind erodes by deflation. When wind blows over the land, it
picks up smaller sediment and bounces or rolls larger sediment
over the ground.
• How do sand dunes and loess deposits form?
 Sand dunes form when wind carrying sediment strikes an
obstacle, such as a boulder or clump of grass, which traps the
windblown sediment. Loess deposits form when wind lays down
fine sediment in layers.
• You visit a rocky headland by the ocean that has a sea arch and
several sea stacks. How might this area change in the next
500 years?
 In 500 years, the headland may have eroded back, evening