Big Waves and Coastal Erosion
In Big Waves and Coastal Erosion, narrator Sir David Attenborough demonstrates how waves impact the coast. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
Lesson Express
Q: What is the level of impact of these waves?
A: The impact is the same as 1.5 million tons of TNT.
Q: What is the rate of erosion?
A: It is about 10 feet (3 meters) of coastline per year.
Q: What features of the land impacts how a wave will shape it?
A: The rate at which the waves reshape the rock depends on its hardness. Where soft rock lies below hard rock, dramatic arches are carved.
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