Concordant coastline

A concordant, longitudinal, or Pacific type coastline occurs where beds, or layers, of differing rock types are folded into ridges that run parallel to the coast.^[1] The outer hard rock (for example, granite) provides a protective barrier to erosion of the softer rocks (for example, clays) further inland. Sometimes the outer hard rock is punctured, allowing the sea to erode the softer rocks behind. This creates a cove, a circular area of water with a relatively narrow entrance from the sea.

Lulworth Cove in Dorset is situated on a concordant coastline. The outer hard rock is Portland limestone. The sea has broken through this barrier and easily eroded the clays behind it. A chalk cliff face at the back of the cove slows further erosion. Erosion is just starting to the west, where the sea has again broken through the Portland limestone barrier at Stair Hole.

The concordant coast may take one of two landform types. The Dalmatian type, named from Dalmatia on the Adriatic Sea, features long offshore islands and coastal inlets that are parallel to the coastline. The Adriatic Sea itself is a concordant landform, consisting of a body of water between parallel ranges. The second landform is the Haff type as in the Haffs, or lagoons, of the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, which are enclosed by long spits of sand parallel to the low coast.^[2]

The converse of concordant coastline is a discordant coastline.

See also

• Coast

References

1. ↑ Jackson, Julia A.; James P. Mehl; Klaus K. E. Neuendorf (2005). Glossary of geology (5, illustrated ed.). American Geological Institute, Springer Science & Business. p. 134. ISBN 0922152764, ISBN 978-0-922152-76-6. 
2. ↑ Deka, Phani (2006). Geography: Physical and Human. New Age International. p. 64. ISBN 8122419127, ISBN 978-81-224-1912-2. 

Coastal geography
Landforms	Anchialine pool Archipelago Atoll Avulsion Ayre Barrier island Bay Baymouth bar Bight Bodden Brackish marsh Cape Channel Cliff Coast Coastal plain Coastal waterfall Continental margin Continental shelf Coral reef Cove Dune cliff-top Estuary Firth Fjard Fjord Freshwater marsh Fundus Gat Geo Gulf Gut Headland Inlet Intertidal wetland Island Islet Isthmus Lagoon Machair Marine terrace Mega delta Mouth bar Mudflat Natural arch Peninsula Reef Regressive delta Ria River delta Salt marsh Shoal Shore Skerry Sound Spit Stack Strait Strand plain Submarine canyon Tidal island Tidal marsh Tide pool Tied island Tombolo Windwatt
Beaches	Beach cusps Beach evolution Coastal morphodynamics Beach ridge Beachrock Pocket beach Raised beach Recession Shell beach Shingle beach Storm beach Wash margin
Processes	Blowhole Cliffed coast Coastal biogeomorphology Coastal erosion Concordant coastline Current Cuspate foreland Discordant coastline Emergent coastline Feeder bluff Fetch Flat coast Graded shoreline Headlands and bays Ingression coast Large-scale coastal behaviour Longshore drift Marine regression Marine transgression Raised shoreline Rip current Rocky shore Sea cave Sea foam Shoal Steep coast Submergent coastline Surf break Surf zone Surge channel Swash Undertow Volcanic arc Wave-cut platform Wave shoaling Wind wave Wrack zone
Management	Accretion Coastal management Integrated coastal zone management Submersion
Related	Bulkhead line Grain size boulder clay cobble granule pebble sand shingle silt Intertidal zone Littoral zone Physical oceanography Region of freshwater influence
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