On marine dominated shorelines, where deltas are unable to form, linear shorelines develop which pass seawards towards marine shelf environments.

Two major groups of sand bodies can occur in this situation:-

1. Shoreline sands: beaches & barrier islands whose axes are parallel to the shoreline and, therefore, to depositional strike.

2. Shoal sands: including offshore bars, shoals and tidal current ridges. These, though linear, may have axes unrelated to basin slope and basin architecture.

Each of these groups may be further subdivided into two types, depending on whether the base of the sand body is above or below effective wave base (Fig. 29). Linear shorelines are described in this section, shelf deposits in the next.