A headland bay beach is a coastal embayment formed by wave erosion in the dominant down-drift (lee) direction immediately adjacent to a single prominent headland (Yasso, 1965). Headlands include, but are not limited to: masses of erosion-resistant glacial till, as along the western shore of Cape Cod Bay; rock promontories, as along the California coast; and widely spaced groins, as along many sandy coasts. Such headlands block direct dominant wave attack against the downdrift beach. However, waves are refracted around the headland to cause retrogradation of the lee shoreline. Diffracted waves and eddies from coastal or tidal currents may play a small, but as yet undetermined, role in evolution of the headland bay beach.
Headland bay beaches examined to date all have a logarithmic spiral geometry in plan view (Yasso, 1965). Logarithmic spiral center of curvature for each headland bay beach is at the headland or in reasonable proximity to it. Limiting cases of logarithmic spirals...
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References
Schwartz, M. L., and Grabert, G. F., 1973. Coastal processes and prehistoric maritime cultures, in D. R. Coates, ed., Coastal Geomorphology. Binghamton: State University of New York, 303–320.
Yasso, W. E., 1965. Plan geometry of headland-bay beaches, Jour. Geology 73, 702–714.
Yasso, W. E., 1979. Headland-bay beaches along the western shoreline of Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, in G. Halasi-Kun and K. Widmer, eds., Proceedings of the Columbia University Seminar on Pollution and Water Resources. Trenton, N. J.: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, F1–F6.
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© 1982 Hutchinson Ross Publishing Company
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Yasso, W.E. (1982). Headland bay beach . In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_220
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_220
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