Wikipedia A raised beach, coastal terrace, or perched coastline is a relatively flat, horizontal or gently inclined surface of marine origin, mostly an old abrasion platform which has been lifted out of the sphere of wave activity (sometimes called "tread"). Thus, it lies above or under the current sea level, depending on the time of its formation. It is bounded by a steeper ascending slope on the landward side and a steeper descending slope on the seaward side (sometimes called "riser"). Due to its generally flat shape it is often used for anthropogenic structures such as settlements and infrastructure.

A raised beach is an emergent coastal landform. Raised beaches and marine terraces are beaches or wave-cut platforms raised above the shoreline by a relative fall in the sea level.

Around the world, a combination of tectonic coastal uplift and Quaternary sea-level fluctuations has resulted in the formation of marine terrace sequences, most of which were formed during separate interglacial highstands that can be correlated to marine isotope stages (MIS).

A marine terrace commonly retains a shoreline angle or inner edge, the slope inflection between the marine abrasion platform and the associated paleo sea-cliff. The shoreline angle represents the maximum shoreline of a transgression and therefore a paleo-sea level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_beach 

Photo by Martin Bodman https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/951851 

 

Image processed by Grant Sherman using QGIS from LIDAR data from https://environment.data.gov.uk/ 

...between Prawle Point and Start Point raised beaches (some of which are farmed) are a defining feature revealing the effects of past coastal erosion during time of higher sea levels...

 

follow Hartstongue on social media

         

Twitter  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram LinkedIn