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Coastguard Beach, Massachusetts
Photograph by Michael Melford
Sunrise paints the sky pale orange over Coastguard Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. More than half of all U.S. residents live in coastal counties—and that figure is expected to continue climbing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Palau Wave
Photograph by Paul Chesley
Surf and spray scatter as a large wave crashes onto the shore in Palau. More than 250 islands make up the country, a Japanese stronghold during World War II.
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Chile Coast
Photograph by Priit Vesilind
Pacific Ocean waves smash the boulder-strewn coast of Iquique, Chile. Waves are the busiest sculptors of coastlines, unleashing their erosive power on the shore. Pounding waves slowly chip away the bases of cliffs, forcing chunks of rock to crumble and slide into the sea.
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Oregon Sea Stacks
Photograph by Tyrone Turner, National Geographic
Sea stacks, like this one shaped like the prow of a ship in Cape Kiwanda State Park, Oregon, are chunks of isolated rock resistant to erosion. They start as part of a headland or sea cliff connected to land. Smashing waves erode the softer rock, leaving harder rock behind in the form of sea stacks.
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White Cliffs, Germany
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
White-chalk cliffs studded with beech trees form the dramatic coastline of Rugen Island, Germany. Crashing waves from the Baltic Sea sculpted the 400-foot (120-meter) precipices of the island's eastern shore.
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Alaska Tidal Patterns
Photograph by Stephen Sharnoff
Ocean tides comb the waters of coastal Alaska into fanciful eddies and whorls. The ebb and flow of tides help sculpt an array of landforms on coasts worldwide, including spits, barrier islands, and dunes.
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Chandeleur Islands Coastline
Photograph by Annie Griffiths Belt
Surf hits turf on the coastline of the Chandeleur Islands. Arranged in a crescent along the southeastern coast of Louisiana, the barrier islands are Louisiana's first line of defense from storm damage. The surging waters of Hurricane Katrina submerged half of the low-lying islands.
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Arctic Ocean Ripples
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
Ripples disturb the mirrorlike surface of the Arctic Ocean near Igloolik, Canada. Even the gentlest of ripples reshapes coastlines, a few grains of sand at a time.
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Alaska Sandbar
Photograph by Joel Sartore
A sandbar divides the Chukchi Sea, at left, from the Kasegaluk Lagoon, right, near North Slope, Alaska. Sandbars are semi-exposed ridges of sand that waves deposit offshore from a beach. Generally, a stormy season's strong surf builds higher, wider sandbars, whereas gentle seas sculpt smaller sandbars closer to shore.
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Germany Sandbanks
Photograph by Norbert Rosing
These unique sandbank formations in the Baltic Sea near Germany were formed about 6,000 years ago when seawaters flooded Germany, fashioning islands, sandbanks, and peninsulas from hilltops of previously dry land. Today, Germany's unique offshore landscape is part of Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft National Park.
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Cape Cod Sunset
Photograph by Michael Melford
Sunset paints the skies over Race Point Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Lured by scenic ocean views and the sounds of crashing surf, Americans are moving to coastal areas in record numbers, building roads and homes and bringing pollution and population pressures with them.
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