The slope of the sea floor greatly influences how quickly the sea floor affects the waves as the waves get closer to shore, and therefore how the waves break. A critical wave steepness occurs where the wavelength is 7 times the height of the wave and after that wave becomes unstable and breaks.
There are mainly three types of wave breakers :-
Spilling Breaker :- Most common is spilling breaker, which tends to form along shores on which a great deal of sand is spread out over a gently sloping sea bottom, here the surf zone tends to be wide.
Plunging Breaker :- Steeper bottom gradients tends to produce plunging breakers that collapse instantaneously, creating a narrow surf zone.
Surging Breakers :- These are associated with the steepest beaches, where the crest do not attain a critical wave steepness fails to break and is reflected off the beach and back into the sea. Surging breakers are also found off steep seawalls and sea cliffs, which serve as good reflective surfaces.
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