Discuss “How Things Work: Beaches”

Soon, summer will arrive. Many will spend their summer at the beach, tanning on towels, body-surfing the breakers, or enjoying a game of barefoot volleyball. We often take our beaches for granted, though: Before you curl your toes into the warm beach sand or run splashing into the water, take a moment to partake in the wonderful world of coastal formation!

Coastal formation occurs on several scales, ranging from the motions of the planets all the way down to the interactions of molecules of water. On the largest scale, coastlines are formed from two processes: coastal emergence and coastal submergence. Coastal emergence happens when land emerges out of the water. This can occur, for example, when a mountain range at a plate boundary is uplifted....