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!

Related topics and things you might want to know already:

All of the Work of Water and Erosion lessons, but especially the following:

• Sedimentation
• Erosion, Valleys, and Canyons

What you’ll learn:

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

Pre-lesson discussion questions:

• Do you know anything about erosion?
• Have you ever been to the beach? What things did you see there?
• Have you ever played in the sand? What did it feel like? Do you know what sand is made out of?