Beach

Beaches are common technical biomes that serve as transition biomes from the mainland to an ocean. There are three variants of beach biome.

Description
Beaches generate wherever a land biome meets an ocean, with some exceptions. The type of beach variant is determined by the specific biome bordering the ocean. Turtles may spawn on some beaches, and are the only passive mobs that can, though other passive mobs frequently wander into beaches from surrounding biomes.

Beaches do not surround every land biome, however. Exceptions include Swamp, Badlands, Wooded Badlands Plateau and Jungle Edge, which usually just go straight into the ocean. Mushroom Fields do not generate beaches around them either, as they have unique beach-like variants known as Mushroom Field Shores that generate instead.

Beaches are mostly harmless biomes, though don't have many resources of their own. Buried treasure often generates buried under most beaches, and underwater ruins and shipwrecks occasionally generate on or spread to beaches. Players should be wary of drowned that often spawn in the water surrounding beaches, however, as they could make fighting hostile mobs more challenging.

Variants
There are a total of three different beach biomes in the biome family.

Beach
The standard beach-type biome variant, Beaches are composed of mostly sand, with some gravel, dirt, and clay patches under the water, similarly to rivers. Like the sand in deserts, sandstone generates underneath it, preventing it from falling into caves below. Beach terrain is always a smooth descent into the water, though it can vary in steepness depending on the heights of the biomes they border. Turtles can spawn here, as well as buried treasure, shipwrecks and underwater ruins.

Beach worlds generated through the Buffet world type appear as a barren, desert-like landscape of sand with Shipwrecks being the only visible feature in the surface.

Stone Shore
The Stone Shore variant, known as Stone Beach before 1.13, generates wherever mountains or wooded mountains biomes border an ocean. They are made entirely of stone, with some gravel patches, and are usually a steep drop into the water below. Stone shores may generate at high enough elevations to have snow on their peaks. Waterfalls and lavafalls frequently generate on the sides of stone shores. Shipwrecks and ruins do not generate here, nor will turtles spawn, though buried treasure may still generate within the stony cliffs. The steep drops into the ocean below makes this variant dangerous, especially if the player is unaware of their surroundings. Should Gravelly Mountains or Gravelly Mountains+ border an ocean, a regular beach will be generated instead.

Snowy Beach
The Snowy Beach variant, known as Cold Beach before 1.13, generates wherever snowy tundra, snowy taiga, or any of their variants border an ocean. Since these biomes are fairly uncommon, and don't always border oceans, this makes snowy beaches rare. Snowy beaches are very similar to regular beaches terrain-wise, being made mostly of sand, though their landscape is covered entirely in snow layers. The water surrounding snowy beaches freezes into ice due to the cold temperatures. Shipwrecks will generate in this biome (confirmed through Buffet Worlds) but underwater ruins will not generate here, nor will turtles spawn. Buried treasure generates and can be found using Treasure Maps from chests in shipwrecks.