It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Coastal Management. (Discuss)

Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defense or to protect an anchorage from the affects of weather and longshore drift. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Coastal management or coastal defence is used throughout the world for many different purposes, but predominantly to reduce coastal erosion and flooding. ... Image File history File links Breakwater_break1_new(USGS). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Coastal defenses are objects and engineering techniques used to defend coasts against erosion and flooding. ... Weather is an all-encompassing term used to describe all of the many and varied phenomena that can occur in the atmosphere of a planet. ... In geography, longshore drift (LSD) (shore drift or littoral drift) is a process by which sediments move along a beach shore. ...

Coastal defense

They are constructed some distance away from the coast or built with one end linked to the coast. The breakwaters may be small structures, placed one to three hundred feet offshore in relatively shallow water, designed to protect a gently sloping beach. Breakwaters may be either fixed or floating: the choice depends on normal water depth and tidal range. A coastal beach in the Philippines. ... A coastal beach in the Philippines. ... 90 mile beach Australia A beach or strand is a geological formation consisting of loose rock particles such as sand, shingle, cobble, or even shell along the shoreline of a body of water. ...

When oncoming waves hit these breakwaters, their erosive power is concentrated on these structures some distance away from the coast. In this way, there is an area of slack water behind the breakwaters. Deposition occurs in these waters and beaches can be built up or extended in these waters. However, nearby unprotected sections of the beaches does not receive fresh supplies of eroded sediments and may gradually shrink due to erosion. A wave is a disturbance that propagates through space, often transferring energy. ... A coastal beach in the Philippines. ... Slack water is the time during which no appreciable current in flowing in a body of water. ... Deposition, also known as sedimentation, is the geological process whereby material is added to a landform. ... Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock, and other particles) by the agents of wind, water, ice, movement in response to gravity, or living organisms (in the case of bioerosion). ...

Anchorage

3 of the 4 breakwaters forming Portland Harbour

An anchorage is only safe when ships anchored there are protected from the force of high winds and big waves by some large underwater barrier which they can shelter behind. Natural harbours are formed by natural barriers such as headlands or reefs. Mobile harbours, such as the D-Day Mulberry harbours were floated into position and acted as breakwaters. Some natural harbours, such as those in Plymouth Sound, Portland Harbour and Cherbourg, have been enhanced or extended by breakwaters made of rock. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (820x615, 51 KB) The southern ship channel, site of the wreck of HMS Hood (1896), at Portland Harbour, England. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (820x615, 51 KB) The southern ship channel, site of the wreck of HMS Hood (1896), at Portland Harbour, England. ... Two RIBs at Castletown, Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. ... Italian ship-rigged vessel Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large, sea-going watercraft, usually with multiple decks. ... An underwater scene just beneath the surface. ... A harbor (or harbour) or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. ... The bay at San Sebastián, Spain A headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. ... A reef surrounding an islet. ... Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ... Remains of Mulberry B at Arromanches A Mulberry Harbour was a type of temporary harbour developed in World War II to offload cargo on a beach during the Allied invasion of Normandy. ... Plymouth Sound, or just The Sound, is a bay at Plymouth in England. ... Two RIBs at Castletown, Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, off Dorset, on the south coast of England. ... Cherbourg is a city of Normandy, in northwestern France, in the Manche département, of which it is a sous_préfecture. ...

See also

• Dollos invented by South African engineer in East London
• Groyne
• Harbour
• Jetty
• Port

East London (Afrikaans: Oos-Londen, Xhosa: Imonti) is a city in southeast South Africa, situated in the Eastern Cape Province at 32. ... A groyne on the East coast of England Wikimedia Commons has more media related to: Groyne A groyne (groin in the United States) is a method of coastal defense against erosion. ... A harbor (or harbour) or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. ... Alternate meanings: See Jetty (web server) Alternate meanings: See Jettying in buildings The term jetty, derived from the French jetie, and therefor signifying something thrown out, is applied to a variety of structures employed in river, dock and maritime works which are generally carried out in pairs from river banks... Seaport, a painting by Claude Lorrain, 1638 The Port of Wellington at night. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Breakwater

• USGS Oblique Aerial Photography - Coastal Erosion from El-Niño Winter Storms October, 1997 & April, 1998