Wave-cut platforms form where the sea erodes the land. Because surf erosion cannot reach below the base of the surf zone, a fairly level surface results, the wave-cut platform, made up of the wave-cut bench at the cliff base and the abrasion platform farther offshore. Remnant rock knobs are called chimneys. Platforms may be seen at very low tides but are otherwise invisible unless they are lifted above sea level.
This gallery shows two kinds of "fossil" wave-cut platforms. On tectonically active coasts, land movements may raise the wave-cut platform above the sea. On glacial coasts, the land is depressed by thick ice, then rebounds when the ice melts. During this isostatic rebound, the sea may overlap the land and cut a platform that emerges as the land continues to rise. This gallery shows both tectonic and isostatic platform types.
Fossil platforms are commonly called wave-cut terraces. But "terrace" refers to a platform that is built up by deposition, not carved by erosion.
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