ABSTRACT
Coastal features are the outcome of a variety of processes working on the available geological materials in the zone where the land meets the sea. Cliffs and rocky shores have been shaped largely by erosional processes, and beaches, spits, and marshlands by depositional processes. This chapter examines the ways in which coastal processes have been modified by the impact of man. The breakwaters have thus modified coastal processes by establishing a localized nearshore outflow from the Gippsland Lakes which has interacted with wave action and available sediment in such a way as to develop a sand bar off the entrance. This bar has established a new pattern of wave refraction, which has shaped the cuspate forelands east and west of the entrance. There have been coastal changes that can be traced to man's activities in the hinterland area, or offshore; changes which are the indirect outcome of activities that were not expected to modify coastal processes or alter coastline features.
