Just after a rain, they make muddy waterfalls at the beach cliffs. Rainwater also becomes slightly acidic by dissolving carbon dioxide from the air, then dissolves cementing minerals from rocks. Loose grains can be carried away by wind or water. Plants pry apart rocks with their roots. Lichens dissolve rocks with chemicals produced by the fungus part of the lichen.
Animals burrow in soft rock to allow water to penetrate and erode.
The Carmel Valley Fault hits the beach about 500 yards south of Flat Rock. The Delmar Formation dips below the sand at about 100 yards south of Flat Rock but is raised up about 26 feet into view again by the fault. In thin-bedded rocks another 100 yards south, even very small faults which offset the rocks by only a few inches can be seen. The land must descend somehow from the 100 yard altitude at the lodge to sea level at the beach. The view of the Reserve from Del Mar shows a gradual steepening of the slope to the beach to about 45 degrees halfway down.