Submergent and Emergent Coasts

Sea Level Change
1. Eustatic Change - variations in relative sea level resulting from changes in the amount of liquid water entering the oceans Global Scale
  1. Example: glacial melt water poring into the oceans at the end of an ice age
2. Isostatic Change - variations in relative sea level associated with changes in the buoyancy of the land. Local Scale
  1. Example: at the end of an ice age the as the weight of the ice is removed the land slowly rises causing the relative sea level to fall
3. Day to day it changes with the tides it also changes on a grander time scale. these changes are normally caused by ice ages or major global events.
4. Changes are caused by a variety of reasons either Eustatic or Isostatic depending on if they are have a global or local effect
Emergent Coast
1. Emergent Coastline - a coastline exhibiting features associated with falling sea levels e.g. Raised Beaches and Relict Cliffs
2. Emergent landforms occur when the land's height rises faster than the sea's
3. Emergent features are features of coastal erosion that look like they have formed well above sea level. When they developed when the sea was at a different level to now.
Submergent Coast
1. Submergent Coast - a coastline exhibiting features associated with rising sea levels e.g. Rias and Fjords
2. Are the opposite to Emergent Coasts. They form when the sea height rises faster then the land leading to the land flooding.

Resource summary

	Created by Zoe Pratt about 7 years ago