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Information about Cove

Lulworth Cove, Dorset England


This article is about the coastal feature. For other meanings see Cove (disambiguation)


A cove is a coastal landform. Earth scientists generally use the term to describe a circular or round inlet with a narrow entrance, though colloquially the term is sometimes used to describe any sheltered bay.

Coves form on concordant coastlines, where bands of rock of varying strength run parallel to the coast. Typically these will form where a narrow band of relatively strong rock, like limestone or an igneous rock forms the coastline, with a band of a weaker rock, such as clays and sands, behind it. Often another band of strong rock, such as limestone or chalk will form the back of the cove. The action of waves in weak areas, such as joints and cracks, in the band of rocks which form the cliffs eventually break through the strong rock, exposing the weak rock behind. The weak rock is quickly eroded by wave action, sub-aerial processes and weathering (which causes slumping). Wave diffraction occurs where waves travel through the narrow entrance and then disperse in the cove. Erosion is therefore equal at all points of the cove shoreline, and the perfect curve or circular shape is formed.

Lulworth Cove on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset is a good example of a cove because just to the west of the cove the beginnings of a second cove, Stair Hole, can be seen forming.

Two examples of how coves form. The rock types are those of Lulworth Cove. In example A a river breaks through the resistant chalk back rock and limestone leaving the weak clays to be rapidly eroded. In example B the sea breaks through the limestone, perhaps by forming a cave, and then erodes the clay away.
Cove may refer to:
  • Cove, geographic feature on a body of water
  • Cove (standing stones), megalithic feature
  • Cove, Dunbartonshire, village in Scotland
  • Cove, Scottish Borders in ?Berwickshire
  • Cove, Hampshire, village in Hampshire

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coast is defined as the part of the land adjoining or near the ocean. A coastline is properly a line on a map indicating the disposition of a coast, but the word is often used to refer to the coast itself.
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A landform comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography.
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Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet.
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inlet is a body of water, usually seawater, which has characteristics of one or more of the following:
  • a bay
  • a cove
  • an estuary
  • a firth
  • a fjord
  • a geo
  • a sea loch or sea pea
  • a sound

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headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. A bay is the reverse, rather an area of water bordered by land on three sides. A large headland may also be called a peninsula. Long, narrow and high headlands may be called promontories.
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A concordant coastline occurs where the bands of differing rock types run parallel to the coast. The outer hard rock (eg granite) provides a protective barrier to erosion of the softer rocks (eg clays) further inland.
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate: CaCO3). Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or flint, as well as varying amounts of clay, silt and sand as disseminations, nodules, or layers
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Igneous rocks (etymology from latin ignis, fire) are rocks formed by solidification of cooled magma (molten rock), with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks.
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Clay is a naturally occurring material, composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried or fired.
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Sand is a granular material made up of fine mineral particles. It is a naturally occurring, finely divided rock.

Sand comprises particles, or granules, ranging in diameter from 0.0625 (or 1⁄16 mm) to 2 millimeters.
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate: CaCO3). Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or flint, as well as varying amounts of clay, silt and sand as disseminations, nodules, or layers
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Chalk (IPA: /ˈtʃɔːk/) is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite.
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wave is a mode of energy transfer from one place to another, often with little or no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium (i.e. little or no associated mass transport); instead there are oscillations around almost fixed positions.
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cliff or bluff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are categorized as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers.
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Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).
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Weathering is the decomposition of rocks, soils and their minerals through direct contact with the Earth's atmosphere. Weathering occurs in situ, or "with no movement", and thus should not to be confused with erosion, which involves the movement and disintegration of rocks
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Slumping is a categorical description of an area of techniques for the forming of glass through the use of heating glass to the point where it becomes plastic. It is generally formed by the force of gravity.
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wave is a mode of energy transfer from one place to another, often with little or no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium (i.e. little or no associated mass transport); instead there are oscillations around almost fixed positions.
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Diffraction refers to various phenomena associated with wave propagation, such as the bending, spreading and interference of waves passing by an object or aperture that disrupts the wave.
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Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, south England. The cove is one of the finest examples of such a landform in the world, and is a popular tourist location, with over 1 million visitors a year.
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State Party United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Type Natural
Criteria viii
Reference 1029
Region Europe and North America

Inscription History
Inscription
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Dorset
Motto: Who's a'feard

Geography
Status Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Origin Historic
Region South West England
Area
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin.
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Stair Hole is a relatively new cove that is forming just to the west of Lulworth Cove in Dorset, southern England. In a few hundred thousand years, it will be just as large and spectacular as Lulworth Cove (were it not that it will merge with Lulworth Cove itself before growing
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