ABSTRACT
The wave-, tide-and river-dominated coastal environments discussed in the previous chapters are depositional environments that have developed over thousands of years through accretionary processes. Rocky coasts, on the other hand, are continually being cut back by the sea and are characterized by erosional features. The erosive nature of rocky coasts makes it very difficult to deduce their evolutionary history because the different evolutionary stages are not preserved in the stratigraphy. Another factor that confounds our understanding of rocky coast development is the very slow rate of morphological change. Along clastic depositional coasts we can usually observe morphological changes using observations, measurements, maps and aerial photographs. Rocky coast morphology, on the other hand, is characterized by extremely long relaxation times and is greatly affected by inheritance. As a result of these confounding factors, we can only speculate on the mode and rate of development of rocky coasts (Trenhaile, 1987; Sunamura, 1992).
