Emergent coastline

Emergent coastline

Emergent coastlines are stretches along the coast that have been exposed by the sea due to a relative fall in sea levels. This occurs due to either isostacy or eustacy.

Emergent coastline are the opposite of submergent coastlines which have experienced a relative rise in sea-levels.

Features of an emergent coastline are:
* raised beaches
* raised wave cut platforms
* abandoned caves such as King's Cave, Isle of Arran

The Scottish Gaelic word machair or machar refers to a fertile low-lying raised beach found on the some of the coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, in particular the Outer Hebrides.

Hudson Bay, in Canada's north, has an example of an emerging coastline. Today, it is still emerging by as much as 1 cm/year.


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