Types of Glaciers

• Ice Sheets. Ice sheets are continental-scale bodies of ice.
• Ice Fields and Ice Caps. Ice fields and ice caps are smaller than ice sheets (less than 50,000 sq.
• Cirque and Alpine Glaciers.
• Valley and Piedmont Glaciers.
• Tidewater and Freshwater Glaciers.
• Rock Glaciers.

Glacial landforms are of two kinds, erosional and depositional landforms. The internal pressure and movement within glacial ice cause some melting and glaciers to slide over bedrock on a thin film of water. Glacial ice also contains a large amount of sediments such as sand, gravel, and boulders.

Major features created by glacial erosion include corries, arêtes, pyramidal peaks, truncated spurs, glacial troughs, ribbon lakes and hanging valleys. Corries are bowl shaped hollows with a steep back wall and hollow, forming an armchair shape. They form in hollows where snow can accumulate.

Landforms of coastal erosion include cliffs, wave-cut platforms, caves, arches, stacks, stumps, and headlands, amongst others.

Some landforms created by erosion are platforms, arches, and sea stacks. Transported sand will eventually be deposited on beaches, spits, or barrier islands.

You can reduce soil erosion by:

1. Maintaining a healthy, perennial plant cover.
2. Mulching.
3. Planting a cover crop – such as winter rye in vegetable gardens.
4. Placing crushed stone, wood chips, and other similar materials in heavily used areas where vegetation is hard to establish and maintain.

Retaining walls are structures made to resist erosive forces from wind and water to help stabilize bluffs and cliffs. “Retaining walls are also used along the coast for protection against wave damage and bluff failure.

The Preventive Methods of Beach Erosion

• Groins. Groins look like long walls that are built alongside beaches.
• Breakwaters.
• Jetties. Jetties are perpendicular structures built across the shoreline, extending into the ocean or the sea.
• Erosion Control Mats.
• Breakwater Tubes.
• Geotextiles.
• Coconut Fiber Logs.
• Earth Barrier Walls.

build drainage systems. build houses near coastlines. build breakwaters in the ocean. reduce vegetation along coastlines.

Some of the hazards include movement of barrier islands, sea level rise, hurricanes, nor’easters, earthquakes, flooding, erosion, pollution and human development along the coast.

There are two types of coastal management:

• Hard engineering – this involves building structures to protect the coast.
• Soft engineering – this involves working with nature by using natural materials or allowing nature to take back areas.

There are four main processes of erosion along the coast. These are hydraulic action, abrasion and corrasion, attrition and solution.

When a wave reaches the shore, the water that rushes up the beach is known as the swash . The water that flows back towards the sea is known as the backwash . The energy of the swash and backwash determine the type of wave.

A beach forms when waves deposit sand and gravel along the shoreline. and pebbles. Over time they are worn smooth from being rolled around by waves.

Longshore currents are generated when a “train” of waves reach the coastline and release bursts of energy. Rather, they arrive at a slight angle, called the “angle of wave approach.” When a wave reaches a beach or coastline, it releases a burst of energy that generates a current, which runs parallel to the shoreline.

The shoreline moves back and forth and beaches can stack to thicknesses of many 100’s of meters. I’ve drilled beach sands of over 700m thickness. Excluding stacking, beach sand thicknesses seem to average between 1 and 3 meters.

Beaches provide protection to residents living near the ocean by acting as a buffer against the high winds and waves of powerful storms, and help drive economic activity important to nearby communities. In addition, overuse by visitors can damage sensitive habitats, such as beach dunes, and create marine debris.