small systems where rock material moves onshore, offshore, or alongshore by the forces of waves and currents or.Īlthough the seashore is most commonly associated with the word beach, beaches are also found by lakes and alongside large rivers. The wrack line (not shown here) is the highest reach of the daily tide where organic and inorganic debris is deposited by wave action. The beach face is the sloping section below the berm that is exposed to the swash of the waves. The swash zone is alternately covered and exposed by wave run-up. Some coastal management practices are designed to preserve or restore natural beach processes, while some beaches are actively restored through practices like beach nourishment.īeach zones A berm is a nearly horizontal portion that stays dry except during extremely high tides and storms. Human forces have significantly changed beaches globally: direct impacts include bad construction practices on dunes and coastlines, while indirect human impacts include water pollution, plastic pollution and coastal erosion from sea level rise and climate change.

They may also have hospitality venues (such as resorts, camps, hotels, and restaurants) nearby or housing, both for permanent and seasonal residents.

To support these uses, some beaches have man-made infrastructure, such as lifeguard posts, changing rooms, showers, shacks and bars. These beaches are popular for recreation, playing important economic and cultural roles-often driving local tourism industries. Sandy beaches occupy about one third of global coastlines. Some estimates describe as much as 50 percent of the earth's sandy beaches disappearing by 2100 due to climate-change driven sea level rise. However, these natural forces have become more extreme due to climate change, permanently altering beaches at very rapid rates. Where wind conditions are correct, beaches can be backed by coastal dunes which offer protection and regeneration for the beach. Erosion and changing of beach geologies happens through natural processes, like wave action and extreme weather events. Though some beaches form on freshwater locations, most beaches are in coastal areas where wave or current action deposits and reworks sediments. Sediments settle in different densities and structures, depending on the local wave action and weather, creating different textures, colors and gradients or layers of material.

The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells or coralline algae. A summer tourism at the Yyteri Beach in Pori, Finland.Ī beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles.

Boom beach life fragment