Backshore is the part of the shore that is:

• A. The zone immediately seaward of the foreshore.
• B. The zone between low tide and high tide marks.
• C. The part of the shoreline above the high-tide line, typically dry except during storms.
• D. The submerged seafloor near the shore.

Answer: (C)

The backshore is the landward part of the shore that lies above the high-tide line, so it stays dry under normal conditions because waves don’t reach that high on the shore. It can get wet only during storms when strong waves surge and may wash over or overtop dunes, but most of the time it remains dry.

This differs from the foreshore, which is the intertidal zone that sits between the high-tide and low-tide marks and is regularly wetted by tides. It also differs from the submerged nearshore/subtidal zone, which lies below the low-tide line and is underwater most of the time.