Revetments are structures placed on banks or bluffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming waves. They are usually built to preserve the existing uses of the shoreline and to protect the slope.

Like seawalls, revetments armor and protect the land behind them. They may be either watertight, covering the slope completely, or porous, to allow water to filter through after the wave energy has been dissipated.

Most revetments do not significantly interfere with transport of littoral drift. They do not redirect wave energy to vulnerable unprotected areas, although beaches in front of steep revetments are prone to erosion. Materials eroded from the slope before construction of a revetment may have nourished a neighboring area, however. Accelerated erosion there after the revetment is built can be controlled with a beach-building or beach-protecting structure such as a groyne or a breakwater.

External Links

• EPA - River Bend Project
• Levee and Revetment Routine Maintenance