{"id":31854,"date":"2023-11-02T11:12:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T10:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bbd3137c-d0c5-44b3-84d8-b95088e8db38"},"modified":"2023-11-02T12:39:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T11:39:27","slug":"longshore-drift-what-it-is-and-how-it-has-shaped-the-uks-coastline","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/longshore-drift-what-it-is-and-how-it-has-shaped-the-uks-coastline\/","title":{"rendered":"Longshore drift: what it is and how it has shaped the UK’s coastline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember longshore drift from school geography? Vaguely? Don’t worry, here is a quick reminder on what it is and how it has shaped our beautiful beaches <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 02 November 2023 at 10:12 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Beaches are the scene of constant renewal, with every wave that breaks on the shore adding and removing material. In extreme conditions a storm can create or destroy entire landscapes before your eyes.<\/p>

The main culprit behind all the heave-ho is longshore drift.<\/p>

What is longshore drift?<\/h2>
Longshore drift is a process where sediment-laden waves, blown by prevailing winds, hit the shoreat an oblique angle and create a \u2018swash\u2019. <\/p>
Gravity then pulls the water, pebbles and sand back down the beach\u2019s steepest gradient, generally atright angles to the shoreline. The passage of every grain of sand describes a zig-zagging, sawtooth pattern along the beach until it reaches another current, an obstacle such as a groyne or a headland.<\/p>
Britain’s best beaches<\/a><\/li>
Britain’s best winter beaches<\/a><\/li>
Britain’s best family-friendly beaches<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
How are sandbars and spits formed?<\/h2>
Where the angle of the shore changes, the strength of the longshore current dissipates and drops the sediment, which builds up to form a sandbar or spit. <\/p>
One of Britain\u2019s best examples is at Orford Ness in Suffolk<\/a>; you may be familiar with its elbow-like form from maps.Diffraction of waves around a spit leads to hook-like sandbanks \u2013 good examples abound on North Norfolk <\/a>and Solent coastlines \u2013 but where they diffract around an offshore island, tombolos form such as St Ninian\u2019s Isle off Shetland<\/a> and Asparagus Island at Kynance in Cornwall<\/a>.Longshore drift affects every beach, but not all spit-like structures are its creation. Barrier beaches such as Slapton Ley in Devon<\/a> were formed offshore and then rolled into their current position by rising sea levels, stopping when the beach reached higher ground. <\/p>
In Dorset<\/a>, the lagoons behind Chesil Beach owe everything to timing \u2013 sea levels stopped risingaround 5,000 years ago and halted the movement of the beach on to the land.<\/p>
Main image: St Ninian\u2019s Isle \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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