Feeder bluff

Feeder Bluff located at Jefferson Beach in Kingston, Washington

The geomorphological term feeder bluff is not a standard, widely accepted geologic term; its use has been limited to the Puget Sound region. The concept was apparently first discussed at Western Washington University. The term feeder bluff has been applied to certain coastal cliffs or headlands that provide sediment to down-current beaches as the result of wave action on the bluff.

A bluff will be more susceptible to erosion if the sediment is unconsolidated, and more resistant in crystalline rocks, like granite. Rocks that are heavily fractured are also very likely to suffer from erosion because the water can flow between the cracks to speed up the process. A bluff will retreat towards land as the erosion processes continue.

The term has not been extensively researched; specific criteria have not been developed to distinguish "feeder bluffs" from other types of bluffs; and quantities and rates of sediment supply to beaches and the littoral drift are unspecified and unknown. The overall contribution of "feeder bluffs" to beach processes, unlike the well-researched effects of sediment from rivers, is still undetermined.

References

• Easterbrook, Don J. (1999). Surface Processes and Landforms (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-860958-0. 

Coastal geography
Landforms	Anchialine pool Archipelago Atoll Avulsion Ayre Barrier island Bay Baymouth bar Bight Bodden Brackish marsh Cape Channel Cliff Coast Coastal plain Coastal waterfall Continental margin Continental shelf Coral reef Cove Dune cliff-top Estuary Firth Fjard Fjord Freshwater marsh Fundus Gat Geo Gulf Gut Headland Inlet Intertidal wetland Island Islet Isthmus Lagoon Machair Marine terrace Mega delta Mouth bar Mudflat Natural arch Peninsula Reef Regressive delta Ria River delta Salt marsh Shoal Shore Skerry Sound Spit Stack Strait Strand plain Submarine canyon Tidal island Tidal marsh Tide pool Tied island Tombolo Windwatt
Beaches	Beach cusps Beach evolution Coastal morphodynamics Beach ridge Beachrock Pocket beach Raised beach Recession Shell beach Shingle beach Storm beach Wash margin
Processes	Blowhole Cliffed coast Coastal biogeomorphology Coastal erosion Concordant coastline Current Cuspate foreland Discordant coastline Emergent coastline Feeder bluff Fetch Flat coast Graded shoreline Headlands and bays Ingression coast Large-scale coastal behaviour Longshore drift Marine regression Marine transgression Raised shoreline Rip current Rocky shore Sea cave Sea foam Shoal Steep coast Submergent coastline Surf break Surf zone Surge channel Swash Undertow Volcanic arc Wave-cut platform Wave shoaling Wind wave Wrack zone
Management	Accretion Coastal management Integrated coastal zone management Submersion
Related	Bulkhead line Grain size boulder clay cobble granule pebble sand shingle silt Intertidal zone Littoral zone Physical oceanography Region of freshwater influence
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