Todd Wermager

COASTAL ASPECT

Coastal processes deal with the depositional and erosional forces of a coastal landscape caused by the movement of the associated water, which can be related to tidal changes (Kirk, 2001), the Haast region is susceptible to coastal processes as well as aeolian and fluvial.  The coastal aspect of this study area affects the area due to the longshore drift that occurs here, but when compared to the effects of the fluvial deposition, it is not as much of a shaping factor of the area.  The coast is on the edge of the furthest dune, therefore providing a history of sea level changes over the last few thousand years.  The only fluvial feature that has much of an impact on the dune systems is the deposition of the material that makes them, then the coastal and aeolian working together do the rest of the work making the dunes the way the are.