This paper by a Russian expert in coastal matters analyses the conditions existing on beaches on the north coast of the Black Sea. The way in which beach material is moved by waves set up by winds from various directions is discussed. It is a coast subject to much change under natural conditions and so experiments have been made to establish the best ways of holding the beaches. Expensive sea-walls and groynes have been built and there has been some in-filling with material brought by rail from the Caucasus. The coast is a popular one and since beaches mean money, every care has to be taken in their retention. Some underwater investigations as to movement of material were made, and the varying gradients of the sea floor along this coast are significant. In the eastern part of the coast submarine canyons present a special problem. The existence of a series of alongshore shingle flows was established on the Caucasian coast of the tideless Black Sea (Zenkovich, 1958). Because of the great latitudinal extent of the Black Sea basin, the waves coming from the west have the longest fetch and the resultant force of the wave regime makes an acute angle with the coastline. The deposits drift in the direction of Kolkhida both along the northern coast of the sea (beginning from Tuapse) and along the southern coast (the Batumi region). It is possible that the Tuapse-Kolkhida flow, which is over 300 km long, was once continuous. At the end of the Holocene transgression, however, lagoons and estuaries came into existence at the mouths of Caucasian rivers. During the Holocene period asymetrical accumulation forelands developed from alluvial and coastal material in front of the mouths of the big rivers (the Mzymta, Psou, Bzyb', Gumista, Chorokh and Kodori). They have grown until they now slope steeply (sometimes at more than 300) into depths of as much as 100 m (Zenkovich, 1967)?beyond the limits of the shelf which is narrow in this area. In such places the littoral flows are interrupted because nearly all material is carried down the steep slopes. Moreover, the forelands shelter considerable areas of coast from the action of waves from the west, and so the weak and less frequent eastern waves locally create short flows from the opposite direction (Fig. ib). The existence of depositional forms and their major parameters was established as a result of some comprehensive investigations which included wave regime and currents; geomorphological analysis; petrographic composition of the shingle and large-scale experiments with marked pebbles and sand tracers. Theoretical conclusions were later confirmed by the study of coastal changes which occurred after the construction of groynes and harbour works. In a number of places quantitative data were obtained on sediment load. Figures for the main study areas are: 30000 m3 p.a. (Sochi), 20000 m3 p.a. (Gagra), 60000 m3 p.a. (Pitsunda), 70 000 m3 p.a. (Batumi).