Holocene coastal evolution has been extensively studied by workers from various earth science disciplines, particularly sedimentologists and geomorphologists. Some of these studies have focused on the history of regional sea-level changes in various ocean basins and the mechanisms – such as eustasy, glacio-isostasy, sediment compaction, neotectonics and climatic forces – involved in such changes. Although beach ridges have been used to identify steps in coastal evolution, only in a few cases have beach ridge systems been investigated with respect to event histories (for example, cyclones and tsunamis). Beach ridge systems, however, belong to the most promising geo-archives for the study of climate change and sea-level variations over the Holocene, as well as for deciphering event histories. This paper presents examples of some studies in this field, in relation to a global overview of beach ridge systems and their morphological characteristics.

Many coastlines of the world, particularly those at higher latitudes and those located in tropical cyclone belts, are regularly battered by strong storm waves. Drowning of low-lying areas by storm surges and storm floods has been thoroughly recorded; however, storm deposits at rocky shorelines or on cliffs have been underrepresented in the literature. This article presents observations of extraordinary wave deposits along the high-wave energy coastlines of western Ireland and the northern Scottish isles and discusses possible wave event types and time windows of the processes responsible. We used archaeological, geomorphological, and geochronological disciplines to compare our findings with earlier results published for these areas and to contribute to the debate on whether large clasts found well above sea level and/or a considerable distance inland were deposited by storms or by tsunamis

Situated just north of the Venezuelan coast around 12° to 13° N, the Netherlands Antilles are normally well outside the hurricane belt. Nevertheless, some of these powerful storms sent waves and swell of significant size to these islands, strong enough for impacts on the coastal geomorphology. Hurricane Ivan of September 2004, with Saffir–Simpson category 5 and around 250 km/h sustained winds less than 150 km north of Bonaire, was the most recent and one of the strongest of these events in history. Waves along the rocky eastern coastline reached heights of \u3e12 m. Our observations during the days of Hurricane Ivan on Bonaire Island include impacts on exposed and sheltered shorelines, transformation of beaches and cliffs, sediment movement on higher terraces, as well as boulder transport. The latter is important to distinguish storm wave-induced boulder movement from boulder movement by tsunami, which have affected Bonaire several times during the Younger Holocene