Some shores in the Vancouver area are bedrock, some are man-made fill, others are tidal marshes, and still others are beaches of sand and gravel. Coastal bluffs developed in Ice Age deposits are vulnerable to wave erosion and landslides; many have retreated significantly in this century. Sediment eroded from the bluffs is carried by currents along the shore and deposited on beaches.

Photo #3	Intertidal sand flat in Boundary Bay; view southwest towards Point Roberts at a low tide. Much of this sand was eroded by waves from sea cliffs of Ice Age sediments at Point Roberts and carried northward by currents into Boundary Bay. Currents and tides have molded the sand into broad, low dunes oriented parallel to the shoreline.
Photo #7	Point Grey sea cliff; photo taken in the late 1970s. The cliff's loose Ice Age sediments are eroded by waves and groundwater. The shore has retreated inland up to several tens of metres in the last 50 years, threatening some buildings at the top of the cliff. An erosion control program, implemented in 1981, has significantly slowed the retreat.
Photo #8	Groins along Vancouver's English Bay shoreline trap sand and reduce beach erosion. Without the groins, currents and waves would strip sand from the beach. This shoreline is visible in photo 14.