Final Assesment

Coastal Landforms and Processes

The Coastal Landscapes of Jeju Island...now and in the future;

Shown above is a littoral zone found in Jeju Island that perfectly depicts the already well-known Hallasan Mountain. As I have labeled, the picture shows a few coastal forms and processes. In the backround, you can spot what looks to be a piece of land stretched out vertically into the water; this is called a tombolo which is a depositional landform; a landform created by material deposited by the water due the environment. To the right of the tombolo is an isolated pool of water called a lagoon and the stretch of sand seperating the lagoon from the body of water is called a bay barrier also formed by deposition.

Sanbang, Jeju Island

This is a coastal landform in Jeju called Sanbang. Here, you can see more of the same coastal landforms such as the depositional landform called a tombolo shown both in the far back of the picture beside the mountain and closer up near the beach. Also shown here is some coastal action; the spilling breakers just off the shoreline of Sanbang suggest that the bar beneath the water’s surface is flat. 

Sunrise Peak, Jeju Island
**Picture shows projected sea cliff to the left and back/sea cliff off of the beach to the right and front

Let’s begin to hypothisize what the coastal landscapes, such as the one above, will look like 10, 100, and 1000 years from now. Due to Jeju’s frequent storms that hit the island monthly, the best predictor for what coastal landforms in Jeju may look in the future will be determined by the erosion patterns displayed on the island. Erosional landforms are created by the breaking down of rock formations over time due to outside forces and conditions. For example, the sea cliff shown above can begin to develop what is called a notched cliff/wave-cut notch in 10 years. When the tide rises during storms, the forceful pounding of the water againts the cliff will form a u-shaped gap in the rock.

Diagram showing the process of the formation of a wave-cut notch

In a 100 years, those wave-cut notches can eventually form erosional landforms called sea caves. In the picture below you can see the formation of a sea-cave to the right of the landscape. 

Image of a sea cave on a coastal landscape in Jeju

As shown in the landscape above, the erosional coastal landscape in Jeju is completely diverse due to the frequent rain they recieve year-round that causes the tide to rise and damage the coast. The picture above proves that formations such as sea caves will begin to form over time and in Sunrise Peak’s case the notch’s that will begin to appear in 10 years should and will begin to develop into sea caves 100 years from now

1000 years from now, if the tide hits hard enough on the sea cliff shown in Sunrise Peak that is directly projected into the water (labeled beneath the image), the cliff could eventually break off completely and form a sea stack. Due to the weight of the cliff above the developing notch, the rock will detatch itself and become a completely separate entity. The picture below shows a sea stack on Udo-Island in Jeju.

Udo-Island Sea Stack

Images taken from:

http://nature.new7wonders.com/archives/wonder/jeju-island
http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2007/08/coastal-erosion-landforms-features-and.html

Information taken from:

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Landscapes/KarCoast/KarCoast.html