Vegetated sand ridges called dunes, built up by dry beach sand blown inland and trapped by plants and other obstructions, back most beaches. As sand accumulates, the dunes become higher and wider.
Plants play a vital role in this process, acting as a windbreak and trapping the deposited sand particles. A characteristic of these plants is their ability to grow up through the sand and continually produce new stems and roots as more sand is trapped and the dune grows.
Stable sand dunes play an im...
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