Coastal terraces on the Pacific coast are products of glacioeustatic sea level fluctuations and progressive tectonic uplift of the coastal area. The terraces presented in the table below occur on opposite corners of Monterrey Bay, just 25 miles apart. The differences in elevations between correlated formations hint at some of the difficulties involved in working with terraces along an irregular coastline which has been faulted and uplifted throughout the Quaternary.
Adapted from pp. 179-180 in Dupre, W. R., et. al. 1991. "The Pacific Margin, Conterminous U.S." Chpt. 7 in Quaternary Non-glacial Geology: Conterminous United States. Volume K-2 in The Geology of North America series. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America.