“…Significant insight has, however, been made at the micro‐scale where the following key mechanisms of erosion have been identified: (1) grain‐by‐grain abrasion (Kirk, ; Blanco‐Chao et al, ); (2) fragmentation of rock facilitated by wetting and drying (Robinson, ; Stephenson and Kirk, ), warming and cooling (Coombes, ; Mayaud et al, ), salt crystallization in rock lattices (Mottershead, ; Stephenson and Kirk, ) and biological activity (Andrews and Williams, ; Naylor et al, ), followed by removal of fragments via hydraulic drag‐and‐lift force, grain wedging (Kirk, ; Stephenson and Kirk, ; Blanco‐Chao et al, ) and impacts (Cullen and Bourke, ). The rate of platform down‐wearing has been shown to be controlled by: (1) rock type (Kirk, ; Stephenson and Kirk, ; Taylor, ; Dasgupta, ; Moura et al, ); (2) elevation with respect to tidal duration distribution (frequency of submergence/emergence transitions) which is observed to link erosion rate to direct wave action (Robinson, ; Foote et al, ), wetting and drying (Kirk, ; Robinson, ; Stephenson and Kirk, ) and biological activity (Torunski, ); (3) slope (Robinson, ); (4) rock structure (Swantesson et al, ); (5) the presence or absence of beach deposits (Robinson, ); (6) biological cover (Coombes et al, ). Erosion rates change through time, with higher rates observed either in summer when higher temperatures increase efficiency of thermal expansion of salt crystals, and wetting and drying (Robinson, ; Mottershead, ; Stephenson and Kirk, , ), or in winter as a result of increased storminess and wave energy delivery to the foreshore (Robinson, ; Foote et al, ; Moses and Robinson, ).…”