Long to short time-scale factors in rocky coasts change in the NW Spain

Abstract

Processes in rocky coasts operates in a wide range of time-scales, from seconds to millennia, but sealeveloscillations probably are the most significant changes. A portion of land changes from coastal tocontinental environment as sea-level rise or fall, and, although a re-occupied coast is never the same, itcan conserve a memory of the previous morphodynamic states. This memory of the system implies thatthe processes that operated in the past exert a large influence on present processes. This is a veryimportant factor in the evolution and present dynamics of rocky coasts, in which many erosive andsedimentary landforms are fully or partially inherited.