There are a lot of factors that affected the formation and development of landforms of present coastal area of Vietnam. The geomorphologic features of coastal area of Vietnam formed in Holocene and developed on the different geological structures under sea-level changes and other exogenic factors (wave, current, tide, river, biology, v.v.) as well as human impacts.
The present coastal area of Vietnam has been divided into three dynamic zones in onshore direction and four regions in longshore one (1. The west of Bac Bo gulf from Mong Cai to Hai Van; 2. The South Central coast from Hai Van to Ca Na; 3. South-East and South from Ca Na to Ca Mau and 4. East of Thailand gulf) with twenty-nine landform types.
At present, abrasion on the hard rocks and erosion on unconsolidated sediments are dominated geomorphologic processes in both time and spatial scale. The coastal erosion is a one kind of natural hazards and increasing, which cause the losses of the land, housing, etc
Today, there are many projects for economical development in the coastal zone as well as on the watershed, which effect not only on coast but also on resources and environment of coastal zone. Therefore, studying the land-sea interaction, especially under human effect and the sea level rising for ICZM, is very necessary.
