Mole

A mole is a massive solid structure projecting from the shore into the sea that combines breakwater protection with a berthing face or roadway on its leeward side. Unlike an open piled jetty, a mole is a continuous filled or gravity structure, so it blocks wave energy and can interrupt littoral sediment transport, causing updrift accretion and downdrift erosion. Construction is rubble-mound, mass concrete, or caisson, designed to BS 6349 and USACE coastal guidance for wave run-up, overtopping, and armor stability on the seaward slope, plus quay-wall loads on any berthing face. Major ports such as historic harbor moles use the form to enclose a basin and provide quay length in one structure.