Coastal Erosion and Ocean Weathering

This lesson has 3 parts! In parts 1 and 2, you’ll go on a virtual field trip to a location where you can search for signs of coastal erosion. Since you can’t stay for millions of years to see it in real-time, you’ll also create a model of coastal erosion so you can watch how it happens. Using your model, you’ll notice some different features created by coastal erosion, and you’ll see real-world examples of them too.

In part 3, you’ll explore how ocean weathering creates sea glass, rounded rocks, and eventually sand. Then, you’ll do an experiment using sugar cubes to model how it happens!

What you’ll learn:

• What coastal erosion is.
• How coastal erosion happens.
• Landforms, features, and other things that are created by coastal erosion.