Currents, waves and winds constantly affect the margins of land adjacent to bodies of water. These processes differ along the various types of coasts and in diverse climates.
Coasts are composed of many kinds of materials, including sand, rocky sediments, mud and biological substances. Because of these variations, coasts respond differently to the natural forces acting upon them.
In this section you can learn more about the ways that coasts change and the events that affect them in the regions and latitudes of the United States.
Although coasts are unique, all types of coastlines change over time in significant ways.