Author Question: What are longshore currents, and how do they form? Why are they important to shoreline processes? ... (Read 60 times)

fasfsadfdsfa

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What are longshore currents, and how do they form? Why are they important to shoreline processes? What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Why do waves bend or refract as they approach shorelines? What will be an ideal response?



otokexnaru

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Answer to Question 1

Waves strike the shore at some angle, causing the water between the breaker zone and the beach to
flow parallel to the shoreline. These long, narrow currents are longshore currents, and they flow in the
same general direction as the approaching waves. These currents continuously move sediment into and
away from beach systems.



Answer to Question 2

Waves rarely approach parallel to a shore, so one portion of a wave reaches wave base before another.
The early arrival begins to break, but the part that is still in deep water races ahead until it also
encounters wave base and begins to break. The net effect is that waves bend, so they are more nearly
parallel to the shoreline.




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