Our transcription: The beach is just one part of a much larger system that regulates the formation, supply, and deposition of sediment along the shore. This system includes the mountains, where weathering processes turn rock into sediment, the rivers which transport that sediment to the coast, and coastal processes, like the long-shore current, that redistribute the sediment along the shore. As we have seen with breakwaters, however, people can easily disrupt the natural balance of this system and alter its ability to operate normally.
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