The coast is where the land meets the sea. Coasts can be sandy beaches, jagged cliffs or rocky shores. Coastlines are shaped by the constant forces of sea, wind and rain.
Coastlines constantly change. Waves wash rocks into the ocean. These rocks are then worn down into smaller and smaller pieces, becoming sand. This wearing down is called erosion.
Some rocks remain as cliffs, headlands and rocky ground. Headlands are cliffs that jut out into the ocean. Headlands can be made of hard rock such as granite. Even hard rock is slowly worn down by waves. Rocky ground along the coast wears away at different rates, forming rock pools. The movement of water and sand also changes the shoreline. Sandy beaches cover many coasts. Storms and tides move sand along the beach or out into the ocean. Large amounts of sand come to the coast from inland, washed into the sea by rivers.