Geomorphological indicators

Abstract

Several physical, chemical, and biological processes shape coastal environments close to sea level. Acting through time, these processes create a variety of coastal landforms. When found outside their environment of formation, these landforms can be used by geoscientists as geomorphological indicators of former relative sea levels. In this chapter, we outline the main processes acting on coastal areas, and link them to distinct types of sea-level indicators, defining general elevation/depth formation ranges for each, which are essential to calculate the paleo relative sea-level position starting from the measured elevation or depth of the landform.