Chapter 14 Flashcards
What is wave height defined as?
The distances from the crest or the highest point and the lowest point the trough.
What is wave height classified as?
The distances from the trough to the crest.
What is the surf?
Were the wave bottom intersects with the sea bottom or were the waves break.
How deep do waves go?
half the wavelength.
What are ripcurrents?
Narrow currents that flow straight out to sea in the surf zone, returning water seaward that has been pushed ashore by breaking waves.
what is the definition of a beach?
A strip of sediment that extends from the low-water line inland to a cliff or zone of permanent vegetation.
what is the beach face?
The section of the beach exposed to wave action. Also the steepest part of the beach.
What is a marine terrace?
A broad, gently sloping platform that may be exposed at low tide.
WHat is the berm on a beach?
platform of wave deposited sediment that is flat or slopes slightly landward.
What is Longshore Drift?
The movement of sediment parallel to shore when waves strike a shoreline at an angle.
What is a spit?
A fingerlike ridge of sediment that extends out into open water.
What is a baymouth bar
A ridge of sediment that cuts a bay off from the ocean.
What is a tombolo?
A bar of sediment connection a fromer island to the mainland.
What are jetties?
rock walls designed to protect the entrance of a harbor from sediment deposition and storm waves.
What is Coastal straightening?
The straightening of an irregular coast.
What is a wave cut platform?
A horizontal bench of rock formed beneath the surf zone as a coast retreats because of wave erosion.
What are stacks?
A small rock island that is an erosional remnant of a headland left behind as a wave eroded coast retreats inland.
What are estuaries?
Drowned river mouth.
What is a fiord?
A coastal inlet that is a glacially carved valley, the base of which is submerged.
What are some general characteristics for waves?
usually between 40 and 400 meters in length and move at speeds of 25 to 90 kilmeters per hour.
When does a wave start to feel affected by the bottom of a lake or ocean?
When the wave is in water that is half of the waves wavelength deep.
what is the surf?
Breaking waves
What is Wave Refraction?
Change in direction of waves due to slowing as they enter shallow water.
What is a Rip Current?
Narrow currents that flow straight out to sea in the surf zone, returning water seaward that breaking waves have pushed ashore.
What is a longshore current?
A moving mass of water that develops parallel to a shoreline.
