Our ability to identify and measure the effect of rock coast processes has improved with the application of modern analytical techniques, geochronometric dating, and physical and mathematical modeling, but we are still largely ignorant of their precise nature (Trenhaile 1987; Sunamura 1992). The relative importance of rock erosional processes is often determined on the basis of ambiguous morphological evidence. Although the processes responsible for the slow lowering of rock surfaces have been inferred from micro-erosion meter data, the technique is unable to measure the dislodgement of large rock fragments by waves and frost.
It is difficult to obtain quantitative process data because of the imperceptible changes that generally occur on rock coasts within human lifetimes, the importance of storms and other high intensity – low frequency events, the lack of access to high and frequently precipitous cliffs, and the occurrence of exposed and often dangerous environments for wave...
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Trenhaile, A.S. (2018). Rock Coast Processes. In: Finkl, C., Makowski, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Coastal Science . Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48657-4_263-2
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