Geography Lesson 12 Flashcards

Coastal Geography Vocabulary

• Atoll: Ring-shaped coral island encircling a lagoon, often formed over submerged, inactive volcanoes.
• Backshore: Zone of sand located landward of the berm crest, sloping away from the ocean.
• Backwash: Water that flows back into the ocean after waves wash onto the beach.
• Barrier Island: Long, narrow island built by waves, running parallel to the mainland and separated by a lagoon or bay.
• Barrier Reef: Coral reef surrounding an island or paralleling the mainland shore, with a deep lagoon in between.
• Bay Mouth Bar: Sandbar attached to a headland, extending across the entrance of a bay.
• Beach: Zone of loose particles from below water level to the coastal edge.
• Beach Scarp: Vertical wall indicating the landward limit of the latest high tides, aligning with the berm during extreme high tides.
• Berm: Nearly horizontal sediment accumulation parallel to shore, indicating normal sand deposition limits by wave action.
• Berm Crest: Highest point on the beach, denoting the shoreward limit of wave action during high tides.
• Breakwater: Artificial structure reducing wave impact on shore, commonly safeguarding harbors.
• Coast: Area stretching from the ocean inland, affected directly by marine processes.
• Coastal Cell: Natural section of coastline where sand input equals sand outflow.
• Coral Reef: Structure of calcium carbonate formed by a combination of marine organisms such as corals and algae.
• Delta: Sediment deposit at a river mouth, often triangular and named after the Greek letter ∆.
• Depositional Coast: Coast where sediment deposition outpaces erosion.
• Drumlin: Streamlined hill resulting from glacier activity.
• Erosion: Natural process of wearing away landscapes through sediment transport.
• Erosional Coast: Coast where erosive forces dominate over deposition.
• Estuary: Water body where freshwater from a river merges with ocean water, fostering high biological productivity.
• Eustatic Change: Global shifts in sea level, differing from localized changes.
• Fjord: Deep, narrow estuary shaped by glacial activity.
• Fjord Estuary: Estuary located within a glacier-formed valley.
• Foreshore: Sand area seaward of the berm, sloping towards the low tide mark.
• Fringing Reef: Coral reef directly attached to a continent or island shore.
• Groin: Structure built at right angles to the shore to reduce longshore sediment transport.
• High-Energy Coast: Coast frequently impacted by large waves.
• Inlet: Passage granting ocean access to lagoons, bays, or harbors.
• Lagoon: Shallow seawater body, often isolated by a barrier, or found inside an atoll.
• Longshore Bar: Accumulation of sand parallel to the shore due to wave action.
• Longshore Current: Current running parallel to shore caused by angled wave approach.
• Longshore Drift: Sediment movement along the shoreline, driven by waves.
• Longshore Trough: Submerged area parallel to shore created by returning wave water.
• Low-Energy Coast: Coast occasionally subjected to large wave action.
• Low-Tide Terrace: Hard-packed beach area where wave energy is expended, crucial for significant sand movement.
• Moraine: Ridge of sediment deposited by glacial activity.
• Partially Mixed Estuary: Estuary with seawater inflow under a surface layer of fresh water.
• Reverse Estuary: Estuary where increasing salinity occurs from ocean to freshwater areas due to evaporation.
• Rip Current: Strong surface current moving seaward, caused by excess water in longshore troughs.
• Salt Wedge Estuary: Estuary where rapid river flow leads to an inclined seawater wedge at the mouth.
• Sand Spit: Accumulation of sand extending from a headland, often curling at the end.
• Sand Bar: Submerged/exposed sand accumulation due to wave effects.
• Sea Cave: Cave at sea level in a cliff formed by marine erosion.
• Sea Cliff: Cliff marking the limit of marine erosion on an erosional coast.
• Sea Island: Island once joined to the mainland, now isolated by rising sea levels.
• Shore: Boundary where land meets ocean, marking high tide limits on nautical maps.
• Supralittoral Zone: Area above the highest tides, not part of the ocean bottom.
• Swash: Water from waves washing up onto the beach.
• Tombolo: Above-water sand formation connecting an offshore feature to the mainland.
• Wave-Cut Platform: Flat terrace on erosional coasts indicating the limit of marine erosion.
• Well-Mixed Estuary: Estuary where tidal mixing regularly combines fresh and saltwater.