Shorelines Flashcards
Fetch
Distance across open water
The depth below which particle motion is negligible is called the ___.
Wave base
What is the depth of the wave base equal
to?
½ of the wavelength of the wave
The highest point of the wave surface.
Wave crest
The lowest point of the wave surface.
Trough
The distance between two successive crests of a wave.
Wavelength
The vertical distance between the trough and crest of a wave
Wave height
The landward rush of water from a breaking wave up the slope of a beach.
Swash
The seaward return flow of swash down the slope of a beach.
Backwash
Waves approaching a shoreline at an angle are “bent” so that they approach it more directly
Wave Refraction
A belt of sand and/or gravel deposited between an island and the mainland.
Tombolo
Seaward current formed during the part of the tide cycle during which the water level is falling.
Ebb current
Shoreward current formed during the part of the tide cycle during which the water is rising or leveling off at high water.
Flood current
A tide cycle of unusually high amplitude, which occurs twice monthly when the lunar and solar tides reinforce one another-that is, when the gravitational pull of the Sun is with that of the Moon.
Spring tide
A tide cycle of unusually small amplitude, which occurs twice monthly when the lunar and solar tides are opposed-that is, when the gravitational pull of the Sun is at right angles to that of the Moon.
Neap tide
one high tide, one low tide daily.
Diurnal pattern
two high tides, two low tides daily.
Semidiurnal pattern
like a semidiurnal pattern, but the tides are markedly unequal.
Mixed pattern
a delta-like feature that forms from tidal currents at the mouth of a narrow inlet.
Tidal delta
A broad, flat region of muddy or sandy sediment, covered and uncovered in each tidal cycle.
Tidal flat
an opening in a barrier island, connecting a lagoon with open water
Tidal inlet
