Introduction to Marine Ecology and Oceanography: The Dynamic Shoreline

A set of 50 comprehensive vocabulary flashcards based on Professor Gary Fones' lecture on the Dynamic Shoreline, covering coastal water movement, beach morphology, sand budgets, and coastal engineering.

Professor Gary Fones

The professor for the M25775 module on Introduction to Marine Ecology and Oceanography.

M25775

The module code for the course covering Coastal Water Movement and the Dynamic Shoreline.

Wave shoaling

The process where waves touch the bottom in shallow water, causing wave speed and wavelength to decrease while wave height increases.

Refraction

The bending of waves towards shallower water so that they break almost parallel to the shore.

Swash

The uprush of water on the beach after a wave breaks, which moves sediment toward the land.

Backwash

The return of water from the beach to the ocean, which moves sediment away from the shore.

Light wave activity

Conditions where swash dominates, resulting in sediment being moved toward shore and a wider beach profile.

Summertime beach

A beach characterized by light wave activity, fair weather, and a dominant swash that creates a wider coastal area.

Heavy wave activity

Conditions where backwash dominates, sediment is moved away from the shore, and a narrower beach is formed.

Wintertime beach

A beach characterized by stormy weather and heavy wave activity, often resulting in sand forming offshore sand bars.

Longshore current

A current that flows parallel to the shoreline, transporting sand grains and swimmers down the coast.

Angle of wave approach

The acute angle, typically less than $90^o$, measured between the wave crest and the beach.

Rip current

A swift, narrow, seaward-flowing current formed where two opposing longshore currents collide.

Beach

The part of the land that touches the sea, divided into sections like offshore, nearshore, and backshore.

Nearshore zone

The coastal region comprised of the breaker zone, surf zone, and swash zone.

Beach divisions variability

The position of beach divisions that advances landward with high tide and retreats seaward with low tide.

Berm

A relatively flat part of the backshore, prominent in a swell profile.

Beach profile

A cross section of the beach taken along a line perpendicular to the shoreline.

Swell profile

A beach cross section that is concave upward with a wide, broad berm and a steep intertidal beach face.

Storm profile

A beach cross section displaying erosion of the berm and a broad flat intertidal beach face, often with a submarine bar.

Sand budget

The balance between sediment added (inputs) and sediment eroded (outputs) from a beach.

Sand budget inputs

Primary sources including longshore transport into the beach, river supply, cliff erosion, and onshore transport.

Sand budget outputs

Primary losses including longshore transport out of the beach, offshore transport, and wind-blown sand into dunes.

Net erosion calculation

The result of a sand budget where outputs exceed inputs, such as a balance of $-10,000\,m^3/yr$.

Coastal Cell

A system where sand is input from a river, carried by longshore drift, enters a submarine canyon, and is swept into a deep-sea basin.

Sand dunes

Accumulations of sand formed by winds blowing material landward from the dry part of the beach.

Primary dune

The sand dune located specifically at the landward edge of the beach.

Secondary dunes

Dunes located further inland from the primary dune.

Saltation

The process where sand grains bounce up the windward side of a dune.

Dune migration

The landward movement of a dune caused by sand accumulating at the top and sliding down the leeward face.

Blowouts

Wind-scoured breaks or depressions in a dune ridge, common if vegetation is destroyed.

Large tidal range

One of the conditions necessary for best-developed dune systems, alongside abundant sand and persistent onshore winds.

Sea cliff

An abrupt rise of land from sea level, most vulnerable to erosion at its base through air compression and sediment impact.

Wave-cut platform

A gentle sloping area in front of a sea cliff produced as the cliff retreats via erosion.

Delta

An accumulation of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river as it flows into a standing body of water.

Hard stabilization

Coastal engineering methods used to stabilize shorelines, such as groins, jetties, breakwaters, and seawalls.

Groins

Structures built perpendicular to the shoreline to interfere with longshore sand transport, often leading to deposition upstream and erosion downstream.

Jetties

Parallel structures used to protect harbor entrances, similar to groins but usually built in pairs.

Breakwaters

Hard stabilization structures designed to redirect wave energy to prevent erosion by protecting an area of the shore from heavy waves.

Beach nourishment

An alternative to hard stabilization involving adding sand back to a beach; it is often expensive and temporary.

Managed retreat

A coastal management strategy that involves allowing the shoreline to move naturally rather than using hard structures.

Branksome Chine

A specific location within Poole Bay used to demonstrate before and after results of beach replenishment in 2006.

National Flood Insurance Program

A program mentioned as having encouraged construction in areas that might instead require alternatives like relocation or managed retreat.

Acute angle

An angle defined as being less than $90^o$.

Wave refraction

The process where waves bend to break almost parallel to the shore due to shallower water.

Leeward face

The side of a dune away from the wind where sand slides down to facilitate migration.

Offshore zone

The division of the beach located furthest from the land, beyond the nearshore zone.

Backshore zone

The division of the beach located landward of the nearshore, often containing the berm.

Surf zone

The area of the nearshore where waves have broken and move toward the beach as a sheet of water.

Intertidal beach face

The part of the beach between high and low tide; steep in a swell profile and flat in a storm profile.