WAVES AND THEIR WORK 



221 



quentl;^' driven 

 into the l^each 

 to arrest the 

 eroding action of 

 the waves, but 

 although this 

 stops the ad- 

 vance of the 

 pebbles for a 

 time, the waves 

 before long pile 

 up the pebbles 

 to the height of 

 the groin, and 

 then start to 

 work to form a 

 new beach a little 

 further from the 

 land. The ob- 

 lique action of 

 the waves, and 

 how they there- 

 fore pile the 

 pebbles always 

 against one side 

 of a gr;in, is very 



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 ^*^ 



THE BACKWASH OF THE WAVES CARRYING AWAY THE SOFTER 

 SAND AND DEBRIS FROM THE CLIFFS. 



at Brighton on the Sussex coast 



strikingly illustrated 

 between 

 the Palace Pier and Black Rock ; where, 

 looking seawards, the pebbles are ])iled 

 up nearly flush with the top of the right- 



>;» 





m^ 



1 r.KK.-ii^r. rOKMATlONS AT liAKrON C.-hio 



The three lower terraces are due to the action of the waves at hiftbest and lowest tides, 



the upper ones to subsidence of the land. 



hand side of each groin, there being quite 

 a drop of three or more feet to the beach 

 from the top of the groin on the left-hand 

 side. 



Another wonderful and most interest- 

 ing piece of work 

 done by the 

 wa\-es is the 

 formation of 

 what are called 

 coast platforms, 

 or sea - terraces. 

 Wherever the 

 coast is being 

 eroded with 

 more than 



ordinary rapid- 

 it}', these wave- 

 worn terraces 

 mav be seen in 

 couree of forma- 

 tion ; indeed, in 

 favourable situa- 

 tions several of 

 these jilat forms 

 are visible at the 

 lowest spring 

 tides, rising as a 

 series of broad 

 shehes or ter- 

 races cut out by 



^'tit^ 





