Marine transportation

Question 1

What is traction?

Answer 1

Large stones and boulders that are rolled and slid along the seabed and beach by moving seawater. Most common in high energy environments.

Question 2

What is saltation?

Answer 2

Small stones that bounce or leapfrog along the seabed or beach. Small particles may be thrust up from the sea bed only to fall to the bottom again, where they dislodge other particles upwards.

Question 3

What is suspension?

Answer 3

Very small particles of sand and silt carried along by moving seawater. Large amounts of suspended loads near estuaries for example, can cause a milky or murly appearance of the sea.

Question 4

What is solution?

Answer 4

Dissolved materials transported within the mass of moving water.

Question 5

When does longshore (or littoral) dift occur?

Answer 5

When waves approach the shore at an angle and material is pushed up the beach by the swash in the same direction as the wave approach, and backwash drags material back down perpendicularly to the coast, wehre it is picked up again by an oncoming wave.
Sediment ends up moving in a zig-zag fashion along the coast.