Cape Verde Islands are an example of a local diversity of the semi-arid equatorial climate zone. The type and intensity of the present-day morphogenetic processes is determined mostly by total precipitation and vegetation cover. We can distinguish three types of relief development. In the warm, arid climate conditions throughout the year, volcanic forms are very slowly changed or preserved by the action of episodic water, limited to a material redeposition in the wadi channels and sand dune forming by the wind. In the semi-arid climate conditions, volcanic forms are transformed into denudation-fluvial relief in the rain period. It is visible mainly on the windward side of islands and at a lower altitude, where the weathering material is washed from slopes and carried away down the wadi channels to the sea after periodic torrential rains. At the same time on the leeward side, at a higher altitude and in agricultural areas only a small amount of material is transported over short distance.
The authors presented the findings from the morphological and structural research of several beaches located on some of the Cape Verde Islands. These islands constructed from granulometrically and petrographically varied rocks, mostly origanated from Mesozoic and Tertiary volcanites. They are also influenced by tides: semidiurnal tides which reach a height of 0.5-1.5 m, and steady trade winds which blow from the north-east. It was revealed that the beaches in question in terms of their morphological and lithological features can be classified as environments characterised by considerable energy of coastal processes.