The Oregon coast's shoreline is naturally erosive, exposed to one of the most extreme wave climates in the world, according to Jonathan Allan, a coastal geomorphologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. "It's not uncommon to experience significant wave heights reaching 33 feet," Allan says. Plate tectonics are an erosive factor too, he says. Along the northern half of the Oregon coast, the sea is rising faster than the land is uplifting, causing more erosion and flooding.
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