Coastal Creationism - Part 13: Island chains, hotspots, and lava
Monday 21/03 2
Stretched across the ocean basins are long straight lines of volcanic islands. What causes them? And why should surfers rejoice?
Chris Buykx explains.
Coastal Creationism
Coastal Creationism - Part 12: Island Arcs, Earthquakes, And Reefs
Tuesday 08/03 15
The Earth's most wave-rich islands are also some of the most seismically active. Is there a relationship between the two?
Chris Buykx examines the case.
Coastal Creationism - Part 11: Island life
Wednesday 02/03 7
The word ‘island’ is the most evocative in geography, and it gets surfers excited too with visions of palm trees and peeling waves.
Chris Buykx explains why islands can be so good for surfers, and also why some of them are so bad.
Coastal Creationism - Part 10: Why Adelaide's surf coasts are so different
Thursday 18/02 27
From the Mid Coast to the Coorong, it's only a hundred kilometres of coastline, yet all kinds of waves can be found there, from perfectly shaped reefs to shapeless closeouts.
Chris Buykx explains the complex history that created the coast south of Adelaide.
Coastal Creationism - Part 9: Creating perfect sand-bottom points that peel forever
Tuesday 09/02 59
Why are sand-bottom point breaks only found in northern NSW and south-east Queensland? There's plenty of sand on the beaches around the rest of Australia so why doesn't it stack against the headlands?
Chris Buykx ducks his head below the tide line to explain.
Coastal Creationism - Part 8: Coral reefs, living and adaptable surf zones
Thursday 10/12 27
Why are there so many perfect waves in the tropics? The answer lies in the way coral grows and shapes the reefs upon which the waves break.
Chris Buykx gets giddy with joy describing the wonder of coral reefs.
Coastal Creationism - Part 7: Coral reefs are even better than you think!
Tuesday 01/12 12
Why do coral reefs make the perfect backdrop to perfect waves? This week, Chris Buykx dives below the surface to explain - amongst other things - why the water is so clear and the colours so vivid.
Coastal Creationism - Part 6: Igneous intrusion and thick-lipped mutant waves
Wednesday 25/11 21
Slabs! We know what's happening above the surface, but what kind of rocks create our most fearsome waves?
Chris Buykx explains in the latest chapter of Coastal Creationsim.
Coastal Creationism - Part 5: Sand dunes and limestone
Monday 16/11 35
Western Australia: How it can be both awesome and wave starved at the same time?
Chris Buykx puts WA's limestone coast under the microscope in Part 5 of Coastal Creationism.
Coastal Creationism - Part 4: Sedimentary sequences and superior shapes
Monday 09/11 25
In Part 4 of the Coastal Creationism series Chris Buykx considers the best stretches of coastline around Australia and asks why they create waves the way they do. The answer lies under your feet.
Coastal Creationism - Part 3: The good, the bad and the ugly of coasts
Tuesday 03/11 22
In Part 3 of the Coastal Creationism series Chris Buykx considers all those hoax coasts. Coastlines that kinda turn on, but mostly don't.
Coastal Creationism - Part 2: Complex curves
Monday 26/10 20
The second part of the Coastal Creationism series investigates the geometry that comprises perfect reefs. Consider that out of the entire watery planet only a small selection of truly world class reefs exist and you realise how rare these curves are.