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Previous answer: gravity
Gravity is part of the answer, but not all of it. That doesn't explain how the water rose to point where it could crash down by gravity. I'm a little rusty but if I remember my old college class correctly, as waves move towards shore, they disturb the water underneath them at a depth equal to one half their wavelength.
So as an example if 2 waves were coming in together with one trailing the other by 8 feet, they disturb the water underneath them at a depth of 4 feet. When they are in deep water, they don't crest but just look like 2 rolling hills. As they approach water shallower than one half their wavelength, the disturbed water below the wave is hitting against the ocean floor and begins to put a drag on the lower part of the wave. Meanwhile the top of the wave isn't disturbed so it crests and falls over the bottom part of the wave.
What else can I help you with?
What causes the normal ocean waves that continuously crash the beach?
Mostly its wind.
An earthquake that causes a landslide under the ocean floor can trigger a?
tsunami
What can an earthquake that causes a landslide under the ocean floor trigger?
It can trigger a tsunami.
When waves grow so tall they topple over they form ocean breakers called?
When waves grow so tall that they topple over, they form ocean breakers called "whitecaps." These whitecaps are created when wind causes the wave crest to become unstable and break, leading to the formation of foamy white waves.
What are ocean breakers?
Ocean breakers are large waves that form and break typically near the shoreline. They are caused by the interaction of wind, currents, and obstacles in the water. Breakers are important for coastal erosion and the formation of beaches.
What forms features on the ocean?
What causes ocean floor features to form
How do satellite determine the terrain of the ocean floor?
they crash land and scan the bottom
What causes the normal ocean waves that continuously crash the beach?
Mostly its wind.
What causes material to form at a mid-ocean ridge on the ocean floor?
New material forms on the ocean floor of the mid-ocean ridge due to plate tectonics and volcanic activity. Volcanic eruptions deposit cooled magma on the ocean floor.
An earthquake that causes a landslide under the ocean floor can trigger a?
tsunami
What causes the hot materials beneath ocean floor to move?
Convection currents.
What can an earthquake that causes a landslide under the ocean floor trigger?
It can trigger a tsunami.
When did they crash into the bligh reef?
On march 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez grounded on the ocean floor, leading to an oil spill
What makes waves crash on the shore?
Waves crash on the shore when they approach shallow water, causing the wave height to increase and eventually break. This is due to the friction between the rising wave and the ocean floor, which slows down the bottom of the wave and causes the top to topple forward, forming a breaking wave.
What is directly related to deep ocean current?
Movement of the ocean, or tides are directly related to deep ocean currents. Deep ocean currents are also responsible for the wind that causes the waves to crash into the shore.
The primary source that causes the seafloor to spread and continents to drift?
In the middle of the ocean is a rift where the ocean floor squeezes out lava and pushes the ocean plates apart.
How might a heavy undertow affect the formation of breakers above it?
Breakers form as waves interact with the ocean floor. Undertows are moving out to sea along the ocean floor. Therefore, undertows must contribute to the slowing down of incoming waves and the buildup of water molecules that cause the waves to increase in height.
