Answer:
The answer choice to the statement: Waves break on a beach due to:___ would be: 2. Reducing depth of water near the beach.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reason why a wave ends its forward momentum as it reaches land, has to do with the amount of space between the ocean floor that starts diminishing and the water that is moving forward. As land starts to become an obstacle for the speed of motion of the water that was coming in, the more land the incoming water encounters, the slower its motion, until suddenly, the motion stops. This is called the breaking of the waves, and it stops water from moving inland further than it has to. This will change if the ratio of water vs land obstacle is overcome, as is the case of a high tide.