CORE UNIT: PATTERNS AND PROCESSES IN THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
(b) Raised cliffs and wave-cut platforms Raised cliffs, caves and wave-cut platforms are also emergent coastal landforms, e.g. Portbradden, County Donegal. They are erosional coastal landforms which existed during the last ice age. They formed in the same way that modern cliffs and caves are formed. The marine processes of erosion such as air compression, hydraulic action and abrasion attacked the coast forming notches, cliffs, wave-cut platforms and caves. After the huge mass of ice was removed at the end of the Ice Age, the land was
uplifted due to ‘isostatic rebound’. The cliffs, caves and wave-cut platforms were raised above the level of the sea.
Fig. 55 Formation of a cliff and a wave-cut platform during a period of glaciation
Raised cliff
Raised cave Raised WCP
Present cliff
Notch Present WCP
Fig. 56 Formation of a raised cliff and wave-cut platform after the ice melts
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Uplift of coast due to isostacy raises land from sea