CMECS: Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Literature Cited

Abiotic: A component or process of the environment that is non-living.

Abiotic substrate: A substrate or structure that is not the result of biological activity or that lacks a living component.

Abyssal: Deep part of the oceanic regime with depth of between 4000-7000 m.

Abyssal depth zone: The ocean bottom extending from the foot of the continental shelf with a depth range of approximately 4,000-7,000 m, and with a grade of less than 1:1000.

Abyssalpelagic depth zone: In the oceanic water column, waters of depths ranging from 4000-7000 m.

Abyssal plain: The flat plain of the deep ocean floor extending from the continental rise toward the mid-ocean ridge.

Aeolian: Pertaining to the action or effect of the wind, including the erosion, transport and deposition of material.

Ahermatypic coral: A non-reef building coral.

Algal ridge: Asymmetric wave-resistant ridge of a crustose coralline algae; a ridge of coralline algae that is found on the outer edge of some coral reefs.

Algal turf: A dense growth of often filamentous algae.

Allochthonous: Material in a receiving waterbody that has been imported into the waterbody from outside; antonym: autochthonous.

Alluvial fan: A fan-shaped deposit of sand, mud, etc. deposited where current velocity has slowed, such as at the mouth of a river or submarine canyon.

Anchialine: A marine lake that lacks a surface connection to the sea, located at or near the coast in permeable substrates and which has a subsurface hydrologic connection to the sea.

Anoxic: The condition of oxygen deficiency or absence of oxygen.

Anoxic Class: Sediments or bottom water with an oxygen concentration of 0-2 mg/L.

Anticline: A fold of rock layers that is convex upwards. Antonym of syncline.

Aphotic: A part of the water column not illuminated by natural light due to depth or turbidity.

Archipelago: A group of islands formed by the same process and composed of the same material; an expanse of water with scattered islands.

Artificial reef: Large, solid and persistent man-made structure or item placed on the sea bottom specifically for colonization or use by reef-dwelling biota.

Artificial structure: Large, solid and persistent human construction in the littoral, bottom or water column zones.

Atoll: A low, coral island found in tropical oceans and consisting of a coral-algal reef surrounding a central depression or lagoon.

Autochthonous: Material in a receiving waterbody that has been formed in its present location, rather than transported to its location from outside the system; antonym: allochthonous.

Back reef: The inner, shallower part of a reef or atoll that is protected from the prevailing currents or waves by the fore reef.

Baffling: A reduction in the energy of flowing water (typically caused by plant material), such that sediment particles may settle from suspension.

Bank: Submerged earthform with a crest at a depth of 20-200 m in oceanic waters and of 0-5 m in nearshore and neritic waters.

Bar and spit: Low accumulations of sand or sediments forming intertidal or subtidal extensions of the littoral zone.

Bar-built estuary: An estuary that is formed by a barrier island or sand bar that separates and partially isolates coastal waters from the ocean.

Bare (cover type): A substrate that is unvegetated and uncolonized..

Baroclinic flow: Water flow along lines of equal pressure in the ocean water column.

Barrier island: A sedimentary island, generally elongate and low, that is built by longshore current transport of water-borne sediments parallel to the coast, by wave action or by alluvial deposition.

Barrier reef: A reef growing offshore from a land mass and separated from the shoreline, often by a lagoon or estuary.

Basalt: Highly mafic igneous volcanic rock, typically fine-grained and dark in color.

Basement rock: The oldest and deepest rock stratum that underlies sedimentary deposits; usually a complex of metamorphic and igneous rocks.

Basin: A depression in which sediments are deposited or in which waters are isolated by a surrounding geomorphic structure.

Bathyl depth zone: The oceanic bottom depth class occurring at depths 1000-4000 m, and with a grade of less than 1:1000.

Bathyl: Deep part of the oceanic regime with depth of between 1000 m and approximately 4,000 m.

Bathylpelagic depth zone: In the oceanic water column, depths of 1000-4000 m, between mesopelagic above and abyssalpelagic below.

Bathylpelagic zone: In the oceanic water column, waters of depths ranging from 1,000 m-4,000 m.

Bathymetry: Pertaining to the depth and relief of submerged bottom.

Beach: A sloped sediment shoreline composed of sand, gravel, cobble, mud, boulder sized sediments, sometimes with beach rock.

Bedload: Sedimentary material subject to transport by flowing water (e.g. current) which is moved along the bottom by rolling, pushing, and saltation. The size of particles moved is proportional to the strength of water movement.

Bedrock: The general term referring to the rock underlying other unconsolidated material.

Benthic: Of or pertaining to the bottom of a water body or the seafloor.

Benthic microalgae: Microscopic plants that inhabit the benthic substrate.

Benthos: Organisms that live on or in the sea bottom.

Bight: A wide bay formed by a curve in a shoreline.

Bioclastic: Sediments made up of broken fragments of organic skeletal material, e.g. shells.

Biodiversity: The number of species in an specific area.

Biogenous sediment: Sediment that is made up of the skeletons and shells of marine organisms.

Biomass: The mass of biologically produced organic material, whether plant or animal.

Biota: The living components of the environment.

Biotic: Pertaining to a component or process of the environment that is living.

Bioturbation: The disturbance of sediment by organisms that burrow, trail through, filter, mix or otherwise move the sediment.

Bioturbators: Organisms, mainly worms or crustaceans, that disturb the sediment by burrowing or during feeding. Their activities mix the sediment layers and can cause substantial sediment resuspension.

Bloom: A sudden increase in the abundance of an alga or phytoplankton resulting in a contiguous mass of highly concentrated phytoplankton in the water column.

Biogenic substrate: Substrate that is formed by biological action.

Bottom water column layer: In a two-layer water column, the waters below the pycnocline or mixed layer.

Boundary current: Large-scale current in the upper ocean that separates water masses and is driven by wind, temperature, geostrophic or coriolis forces.

Calcareous: Composed of calcium carbonate.

Calcareous ooze: A type of biogenous sediment that is made of the calcium carbonate shells and skeletons of marine organisms.

Canyon: See submarine canyon.

Carbonate: A mineral composed mainly of calcium (Ca) and carbonate (CO3) ions, may also include magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe) and others; rock or sediments derived from debris of organic materials composed mainly of calcium and carbonate (e.g., shells, corals, etc.) or from the inorganic precipitation of calcium (and other ions) and carbonate from solution (seawater). For example, limestone or dolomite.

Carbonate bank: A narrow (1-10s of meters), fairly flat, shallow, submarine plateau of carbonate rock. e.g., the Bahama Banks.

Carbonate geology: Geologic and geochemical processes related to calcium carbonate (limestone) formed by biogenic processes in shallow tropical waters.

Carbonate mud (substrate): Fine particulates of calcium carbonate with high cohesiveness.

Carbonate particulates turbidity type: Attenuation produced by suspended precipitated CaCO3 in the water column, generally creating an opaque “milky” appearance. .

Carbonate platform: A broad (100s of meters), flat, shallow submarine expanse of carbonate rock.

Carbonate rock (substrate): Sedimented or biogenically deposited carbonates which have undergone diagenetic transformation into rock.

Catchment: The area of land in which rainwater and surface water is collected and conveyed to a main waterway.

Central rift valley: A depression in the mid-ocean ridge.

Channel: An elongate depression bordered by raised semi-parallel banks that constrain directionally flowing water; the banks can extend to above the water's surface (surface channel) or be submerged (subsurface channel).

Chlorophyll turbidity type: Attenuation produced by chlorophyll a, b, c or d as constituents of live phytoplankton in the water column.

Circular energy direction: Motion in a closed circular form as in a gyre or eddy.

Clay (substrate): Fine mineral particles of kaolin with high cohesiveness.

Clear (turbidity class): Secchi depth reading ranging from 5-20 m.

Coarse sediment: A sediment comprising coarse-grained material such as sand or gravel particles.

Coastal lagoon: A coastal water body in which waves are the principal factor that shapes the overall geomorphology and characterized by a partially or totally constricted entrance. Often a broad, shallow basin typically having negligible fresh water input.

Coastal morphology: The form and configuration of the coast.

Coastal waterway: A body of water situated on or near the ocean coast, having some association with the ocean. Includes embayments, wave-and tide-dominated estuaries, wave- and tide-dominated deltas, coastal lagoons, and tidal creeks.

Cold: Water at a temperature of 0-10° C.

Colloidal precipitates turbidity: Attenuation due to particulates in colloidal suspension, which can precipitate out of the dispersion medium to form larger aggregations such as marine snow.

Colonized: A macro-habitat, habitat or biotope unit that is characterized by a growth, colonization or encrustation of a fauna or faunal community.

Community: The populations or organisms that live and interact physically and temporally in the same area.

Complete cover: A vegetative cover of 90-100%

Complex unit (spatial pattern): Multiple interacting habitat elements that form a single classification unit (e.g. Tidal creek in a salt marsh is a salt marsh tidal creek, a complex unit).

Continental margin: The edge of a continent; the zone between the continent and the deep-sea floor of the abyssal plain.

Continental platform: An oceanic bottom depth class occurring at depths <~200 m with a grade usually less than 1:500 or 1-0.1°.

Continental rise: An oceanic bottom depth class occurring at depth 2000-5000 m with a gradient of 4°; part of the continental margin, it includes the ocean floor from the continental slope to the abyssal plain. The continental rise generally has a gentle slope and smooth topography.

Continental shelf: The part of the continental margin from the coastal shore to the shelf break and continental slope; usually extending to a depth of about 200 meters and with a very slight slope, roughly 0.1 degrees; includes continental and oceanic sediments down to the ocean floor.

Continental slope: Part of the continental margin; the ocean floor from the continental shelf to the continental rise or oceanic trench. Usually to a depth of about 200 m. The continental slope typically has a relatively steep grade, from 3 to 6 degrees.

Convergence zone: The line where two oceanic water masses meet, resulting in the sinking of the denser layer.

Coral knoll (pinnacle): A column of coral within the lagoon of an atoll.

Coral reef: The massive deposition of calcium carbonate by coral polyps of colonial stony corals and other organisms producing large living hard structures.

Coral rubble: Coral fragments broken off a living reef.

Coralline algae: Green and red algae that deposit calcium carbonate in their thallus.

Cover class: The percentage of vegetative cover.

Cover type: A description of the type of flora or fauna that cover a substrate.

Crustacean: Invertebrate having a segmented body, exoskeleton, and paired, jointed limbs; includes lobsters, crabs, shrimps, and barnacles.

Current: A horizontal movement of water.

Current energy: Coherent directional motion of water.

Current system: Areas strongly influenced by large, unidirectional, organized, coherent flows of water in horizontal motion. These include freshwater inflows and tidal flows; play an especially important role in marine ecology by governing productivity, providing transport for early life-history stages and adults, and flushing pollutants out to sea.

Cut-off embayment: Typically small basins within wave-dominated estuaries or wave-dominated deltas that have been bypassed by the principal fluvial current flow, and therefore have restricted exchange with the main body of the coastal waterway.

Deep: For Non-Oceanic regimes, depths >15 m.

Deep shelf and terrace habitat (Horizontal habitat located from ca. 40 m - 500 m): Insular habitats on or above the deep shelf consisting of horizontal or nearly horizontal natural topographical features interrupting a steeper slope and often occurring in a series. These habitats extend seaward from the shelf of an island or bank (depth range between 40 to 500 m).

Deep slope habitat (Vertical habitat located from ca. 40 m to 500 m): Insular habitats on or above the deep slope characterized by a steep (often vertical) slope extending seaward from the shelf of an island or bank (depth range between 40 to 500 m). These habitats may be colonized by some low-light coral and bryozoans.

Deep-sea fan: A fan-like accumulation of sediment at the base of a submarine canyon.

Delta: A low, nearly flat accumulation of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river or stream, commonly triangular or fan-shaped.

Deposited: Materials such as sand or shells that are placed on or in an area of coast or a water body.

Deposit substrate: Loose unconsolidated material deposited by current or by slumping.

Deposit feeder: An animal that feeds on organic matter that has settled on the bottom.

Deposition: Any accumulation of material, by mechanical settling from water or air, chemical precipitation, evaporation from solution, etc.

Detritus: Dead organic matter and the decomposers that live on it; when broken up by decomposers, detritus provides energy to many coastal ecosystems.

Detritus turbidity: Attenuation due to larger organic detritus particles in suspension.

Developed: Coastal or marine areas that are modified and on or in which artificial structures are constructed (e.g. residences, drilling platforms).

Diagenesis: All of the biogeochemical changes that occur to sediment after initial burial.

Diatomaceous ooze: A biogenous sediment that consists mostly of the siliceous frustules of diatoms; known as diatomaceous earth when found inland.

DIN: See dissolved inorganic nitrogen.

Dinoflagellates: Unicellular, eukaryotic, mostly autotrophic organisms with two unequal flagella.

DIP: See dissolved inorganic phosphorus.

Dissolved color turbidity: Attenuation due to substances dissolved in water that have color and absorb light.

Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN): Ionic, dissolved nitrogen compounds that are not organic; include nitrite, nitrate, and ammonium.

Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus (DIP): Ionic, dissolved phosphorus compounds that are not organic; include orthophosphate and pyrophosphate.

Dominant (spatial pattern): In a complex classification unit, the element within a unit that is spatially dominant.

Downward energy direction: Descending and perpendicular to the sea surface or bottom.

Downwelling: Hydroform created by convergence of surface currents that causes surface waters to sink, creating vertical and horizontal displacement of water and possibly carrying organisms to lower depths.

Dredged: Bottom that is mechanically dredged specifically for mining sediments or other materials (e.g. shell), for deepening or widening channels (e.g. for navigation or alteration to hydrology), or for other bathymetric modification.

Drowned river valley (or coastal plain) estuary: An estuary formed by sea level rise; generally a bedrock valley which has been submerged and has not been significantly infilled by sediment.

Ebb tide: A falling tide - the phase of the tide between high water and the succeeding low water.

Ecosystem: A community or communities of plant and animal species, as well as all of the abiotic component of the environment that influence those communities.

El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Irregular cyclical condition in which warm surface water moves into the eastern Pacific, collapsing upwelling and increasing surface water temperatures and precipitation along the west coast of North and South America.

Embayment: Coastal water body that is partially enclosed or surrounded by a landmass but that has a significant open connection to the sea.

Enclosed (water body): normally completely cut off from ocean.

Endemism: An organism or group of organisms restricted to a specific location.

Energy (hydraulic): Energy or intensity of water turbulence or movement, current speed.

Epibenthic subzone: The surface of the benthic zone, at the interface of the bottom of the water column and the seabed.

Epifauna: Benthic fauna that live on the substrate but do not burrow into it (as on a hard seafloor) or on other organisms.

Epipelagic: For the oceanic water column, depths of 0-200 m.

Erosion: Mechanical breakdown of material (e.g. rock) due to chemical, physical or biological processes.

Escarpment: A steep or vertical cliff, either above or below sea level.

Estuarine: Pertaining to coastal areas where freshwater enters the ocean in coastal wetlands, rivers, bays, and lagoons.

Estuarine regime: Enclosed or partially enclosed coastal waters that receive freshwater input during at least part of the year and in which the mean salinity of the upper water layer is reduced to 30 psu or below during at least two months of the year.

Also, shallow coastal waters that may not be significantly enclosed but are dominated by freshwater input from land during part of the year, effectively creating a definable estuary. Estuarine systems are those

Estuarine-Influenced: Unenclosed waters that are influenced by estuarine outflow during at least part of the year. These waters lie adjacent to estuaries and receive estuarine flows, although generally having weaker estuarine characteristics.

Estuary: A coastal ecological system that is partially enclosed, receives freshwater input from land and has a horizontal fresh-salt salinity gradient; the average salinity of estuarine waters is defined as being 30 psu for at least one month per year.

Euhaline salinity class: Water has a salinity level of 30-40 psu.

Euryhaline: Organisms able to tolerate a wide range of salinity.

Eutrophication: The process in which excess nutrients added to system lead to algal blooms, depletion of dissolved oxygen, and often, fish kills.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): 1. A zone 200 nautical miles (370 km) wide along the coast where nations have exclusive rights to any resource; initiated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 2. Federal waters adjacent to state waters, which extend 3 miles out from the coast; the U.S. EEZ includes waters from 3 to 200 nautical miles from shore.

Exposed: For non-Oceanic regimes, depths <0 m.

Extreme large scale relief: The aspect ratio of the geomorphic structure is >1.

Extremely clear (turbidity class): Secchi depth reading is >20 m.

Extremely turbid: Secchi depth reading is 0-1 m.

Facies: Sum total of features that reflect the specific environmental conditions under which a given sediment was formed or deposited. The features may be lithologic, sedimentological, or faunal.

Fault: A fracture, or large crack, in the Earth's crust where one side moves up/down/sideways relative to the other.

Fine sediment: A sediment comprised of fine-grained material such as mud or clay particles.

Fishery: The combination of fish and fishers in a region, the latter fishing for similar or the same species with similar or the same gear types.

Fjord: An estuary with a seaward sill that is formed in a deep valley created by a retreating glacier.

Flat large scale relief: The aspect ratio of the geomorphic structure is ~0.

Flat slope: Substrate with a vertical angle of 0-5°

Flood tide: A rising tide - the phase of the tide between low tide and the subsequent high tide.

Flushing: Exchange of water between an estuary or coastal waterway and the ocean.

Fluvial: Pertaining to a river or freshwater source.

Foraminiferan ooze: A biogenous sediment that consists mostly of the calcareous shells of foraminiferans.

Fore reef: The outer part of a barrier reef or atoll that generally extends into deeper waters.

Fracture: Submerged geoform consisting of a large-scale elongated crack in the deep ocean floor; a fault line or zone attributed to differential movements of the ocean crust.

Fresh salinity class: Water has a salinity level of 0 psu.

Freshwater-influenced regime: Waters that receive freshwater input from land but are not significantly enclosed to form an estuary. These waters are unenclosed and may take the form of a river plume or freshwater slug that extends far from the freshwater source.

Freshwater-influenced salinity class: Water has a salinity level <=30 psu for two or more months per year.

Freshwater: Water typically derived from inland sources or rainfall, with less than 0.03% ionic content.

Freshwater lens: Trapped parcel of fresh water within waters of higher salinity; often in reference to the thin layer of fresh water riding atop marine waters in a river plume entering a marine environment.

Fringing reef: A coral reef that develops as a narrow band close to a shore.

Front: The area at the juxtaposition of two or more different water masses. The front is the discontinuity at the interface between the water masses characterized by sharp horizontal changes in water mass characteristics such as temperature, salinity or nutrients. Fronts are found in the upper layers of the estuary.

Frozen: Water at a temperature <= 0° C with surface ice.

Gastropods (class Gastropoda): Snails and other mollusks that typically possess a coiled dorsal shel1 and a ventral creeping foot.

Geomorphology/Geomorphic: The study of the nature and history of landforms and the processes which create them.

Geothermal vent: Submerged geoform consisting of a vent of hot, mineral rich water on the ocean floor, generally located on or near spreading oceanic ridges or on the continental margins of subduction trenches.

Geostrophic flows: Currents in the deep ocean that flow along lines of constant pressure or baroclinic surfaces.

GIS: An organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information.

Glass sponge: Deep_water sponge with a skeleton of fused silica spicules.

Globigerina ooze: The tests of dead protozoans of the genus Globigerina a protozoan belonging to the Order Foraminifera. The ooze covers some 36% of the world's ocean floor.

Gorgonian (order Gorgonacea): Colonial anthozoan that secretes a skeleton made of protein.

Gravel: Grains with diameters between 2 and 4 mm.

Grazed: Vegetation cover that exhibits obvious consumption by herbivores.

Great ocean gyre: A large, closed, circular system of wind driven surface currents that center around latitude 30? in both hemispheres.

Groundwater seep: Subsurface groundwater flowing into a coastal waterbody.

Guyot: Submerged earthform at depths of >200m consisting of a flat-topped seamount with a cap of the carbonate remains of a drowned atoll or eroded seamount.

Gyre: Large cyclonic current that moves water in a circle pattern from the tropics to the polar seas.

Habitat: The physical environment in which an organism lives including the geographic place, the structure and substrate and all environmental variables influencing it.

Hadal: Deepest deep bottom area or portion of submerged geoform at depths of >7000m.

Hadalpelagic: For the oceanic water column, depths >7000 m.

Hadal depth class: An oceanic bottom depth class occurring at depths >7000 m (trench).

Hadal zone: The sea bottom below 7,000 m.

Hadalpelagic: Deepest layer of the ocean waters >7000 m deep below the abyssalpelagic layer.

Halophytic: Salt-tolerant vegetation.

Hardbottom substrate: Subtidal corals, hardpan and rock bottom.

Hardpan substrate: Particles fused into a hard flat substrate at or above the littoral.

Headward: The landward or upstream section of an estuary or coastal waterway

Hermatypic: Reef-building organisms.

Heterogeneous (spatial pattern): A mixture of different elements that comprise a single classification unit on a substrate.

High energy intensity: Strong currents (>4 kn), oceanic swell, breaking waves.

High island geoform: Forms an island with an elevation more than 10 m above high tide

High large scale relief: The aspect ratio of the geomorphic structure is 1.

High profile: Elevation of a feature relative to surrounding level of the water or bed is >5 m.

High temporal persistence: A feature with decadal stability.

Highly structured (spatial pattern): Patterning of the classification unit on the substrate has a high degree of physical complexity and heterogeneity (e.g. a coral reef).

Highly turbid: Secchi depth reading is 0-2 m.

Hoa: Reef-top subtidal feature.

Hole: Within a vegetation bed, a discrete area that is devoid of vegetation cover

Homogeneous (spatial pattern): An element that entirely comprises a single classification unit.

Horizontal energy direction: Parallel to the sea surface or bottom.

Hot: Water at a temperature >30° C .

Hydrothermal vent: A place on the seafloor, generally associated with a spreading center, where warm to super-hot, mineral-rich water is released; may support a diverse community of organisms.

Hyperhaline salinity class: Water with a salinity level >40 psu.

Hypersaline: Extremely salty, having much more salt than normal seawater (>35 psu).

Ice: Freezing water that forms frazil crystals and coagulates into sheet ice (ice formed into a smooth thin layer), pancake ice (ice formed into small plates), or ice floes (single pieces of ice ranging from 10 m to over 10 km) of various shapes and sizes. Generally, these habitats break out into two types (1) fast ice formed along coasts where it is attached to the shore and (2) free floating pack ice such as icebergs calved from glaciers.

Ice substrate: Polnya, iceberg, pack ice, ice floe and fast ice.

ICOLL: Intermittently Closed and Open Lakes and Lagoon, referring to coastal lagoons and some wave-dominated estuaries under low runoff conditions. Usually formed by a hydrological cycle that is strongly seasonal, that during the dry season allows sedimentation and closing of the mouth. During the wet season, high hydraulic pressure overcomes the barrier, temporarily opening the mouth.

Igneous: Any rock solidified from molten or partly molten material.

Igneous substrate: Rock that is volcanic in origin.

Impounded: Areas that are cut off from natural hydrological flow by building or placing barriers such as levees or dams, either to retain water or to prevent inundation.

Inclusion (spatial pattern): Small element embedded within a spatially dominant type on a substrate.

Infauna: Benthic fauna living in the substrate and especially in the soft seafloor.

Infratidal subzone: the area of littoral land below the waterline that is completely covered by water but experiences the effects of waves and tides.

Internal wave energy: Vertical and transverse oscillating water motion below the surface due to seismic energy or pressure differential.

Interstitial fauna: Animals that live between sediment particles.

Interstitial water: The water contained between sediment particles.

Intertidal subzone: The area of littoral land at the land-sea interface that is periodically covered by water between extreme low and extreme high tide.

Invertebrate: animal without a backbone. In fishery-management terms, this refers to shellfish, including lobsters, clams, shrimps, oysters, crabs, and sea urchins.

Irregular texture: The substrate of a geomorphic structure has a perceptible texture or feature that is heterogeneous and non-regular in either frequency, direction or amplitude.

Island: Emergent land mass that is completely surrounded by water. Aquatic habitats that are associated with land masses completely surrounded by water or elevated ridges extending from the seafloor covered with shallow water (banks) which may support unconsolidated sediments (shoals), rocks, or shallow reefs rising above the surface of the water.

Island arc: A curved chain of islands that rise from the sea floor, usually near a continent. The convex side usually faces the open ocean, while the concave side usually faces the continent, e.g., the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.

Isobath: A line on a map connecting points of equal bathymetry, i.e., equal depth, in the ocean or another water body.

Isopleth: A line on a map connecting points at which a given variable has a specified constant value.

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Karst: A type of topography formed by dissolution of rocks like limestone and gypsum that is characterized by sinkholes, caves, and subterranean passages.

Kelp: Brown algae characterized by their large size and complexity. Some, like the giant kelp, form dense kelp beds or kelp forests.

Lag: A coarse-grained residue left behind after finer particles have been transported away, due to the inability of the transporting medium to move the coarser particles.

Lagoon: Coastal water body entirely or almost entirely enclosed by a landmass with minimal connection to the sea; a shallow, sheltered body of water separated from the open sea by coral reefs, sand bars, and/or barrier islands.

Largely enclosed (water body): 75%-90% of the area of a water body is encircled by land.

Large scale relief: A qualitative variable that refers to the aspect ratio of a geomorphic structure for features that are >1000 m2 scale.

Large tide range: Difference between mean high tide and mean low tide at the coast is >5 m.

Lava: Any molten material that is extrusive or volcanic, or the rock that forms from a molten extrusive.

Levee: Raised embankment of a river, showing a gentle slope away from the channel; natural levee results from periodic overbank flooding, when coarser sediment is immediately deposited due to a reduction in velocity.

Limestone: A carbonate sedimentary rock composed of more than 50% of the mineral calcium carbonate (CaCO3).

Limestone substrate: Generic class of calcium carbonate rock, sediments, particulates.

Lithogenous sediment: A marine sediment that is derived from the breakdown, or weathering, of rocks.

Lithosphere: The crust and the top part of the mantle that covers the earth's surface. It is broken into separate lithospheric plates.

Littoral zone: The zone on the coast where land meets sea; includes the intertidal but is more comprehensive, including the supratidal and infratidal subzones.

Loess: A widespread, loose deposit consisting mainly of silt, formed from an accumulation of Aeolian dust carried from deserts, alluvial plains, or glacial deposits.

Longshore current: Wind-driven currents along the shore flowing quasi-parallel to land; play an important role in sediment transport and structuring of the habitat, forming bars, spits, barrier islands.

Low energy intensity: Very weak currents (0-2 kn) or wave action (gentle swell).

Lower slope: An oceanic bottom depth class occurring at depths of 1000-3000 m with a gradient of 1-6°.

Lowland: Large area of relatively low relief, usually applied to coastal regions that do not rise high above sea level.

Low large scale relief: The aspect ratio of the geomorphic structure is 0.1.

Low profile: Elevation of a feature relative to surrounding level of the water or bed is 0-2 m.

Low temporal persistence: A feature that is stable for weeks to months.

Macroalgae: Large, non-vascular, non-rooted photosynthetic marine plants.

Macrofauna: Large animals (for example, fish).

Macrotidal: Coastal ocean or waterway with a high mean tidal range, e.g. greater than 4 metres.

Magma: Molten rock generated within the Earth; forms intrusive rock, which solidifies below the surface and extrusive rock, which solidifies above the surface.

Marine: Pertaining to the ocean or to ocean waters that receive insignificant freshwater input from land. See also "Marine salinity class".

Marine origin: Materials, water or energy originating in the ocean.

Marine salinity class: Water has a salinity level of >30 psu for more than ten months per year.

Marine terrace: Platform of marine deposits (typically sand, silt, gravel) sloping gently seaward. Such a platform may be exposed along the coast, forming cliffs, due to uplift and/or the lowering of sea level.

Marl: A loose, crumbly deposit consisting of clay and calcium carbonate and formed in marine or freshwater conditions.

Matrix (spatial pattern): A classification element that lies within an undifferentiated substrate (e.g. Cobble in a sand matrix).

Medium profile: Elevation of a feature relative to surrounding level of the water or bed is 2-5 m.

Medium temporal persistence: A feature that is stability from months to years.

Megafauna: Larger animals (for example, whales).

Meiofauna: Microscopic animals that live on the bottom; often used as a synonym for “interstitial fauna.”

Meroplankton: Planktonic organisms that spend only part of their life in the plankton.

Mesohaline salinity class: Water has a salinity level of 5-18 psu.

Mesopelagic: For the oceanic water column, depths of 200-1000 m.

Mesopelagic zone: The pelagic environment from a depth of approximately 100 to 200 m to 1,000 m.

Mesotidal: Coastal ocean or waterway with a moderate mean tidal range between 1 and 5 meters.

Metamorphic: Any rock derived from other rocks by chemical, mineralogical and structural changes resulting from pressure, temperature or shearing stress.

Metamorphic substrate: Rock that is formed from several distinct rock types that are fused through great pressure and temperature.

Microtidal: Difference between mean high tide and mean low tide at the coast is <0.1 m.

Mid-ocean ridge: The continuous chain of volcanic submarine mountains and elongated rises on the ocean floor and extending around the earth, where basalt periodically erupts, forming new oceanic crust; similar to continental rift zones; includes the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and East Pacific Rise.

Mineralization: The process of replacing any organism’s original material with a mineral.

Mineral particulates turbidity type: Attenuation produced by suspended inorganic sediments derived from soil and rock weathering.

Mixed (cover type): A unit that is significantly covered by vegetation and colonies of animals.

Mixed energy direction: Combination of more than one energy direction.

Mixed layer: The upper water layer in a two-layer system that is mixed by the wind or by convection in circulation from top to bottom of the layer, extending from the water surface to the density-stability discontinuity (pycnocline).

Mixed turbidity type: Attenuation due to a variety of sources and substances.

Mixed substrate: A combination of two or more substrate types.

Moderate cover: A vegetative cover of 25-75 %

Moderate energy intensity: Wind waves or moderate tidal currents (2-4 kn).

Moderate large scale relief: The aspect ratio of the geomorphic structure is 0.5.

Moderate tide range: Difference between mean high tide and mean low tide at the coast is 1-5 m.

Moderately dense cover: A vegetative cover of 75%-90%

Moderately sparse cover: A vegetative cover of 10- 25%

Moderately structured (spatial pattern): Patterning of the classification unit on the substrate has a high degree of physical complexity but is generally homogeneous (e.g. a mangrove prop root zone).

Moderately turbid: Secchi depth reading is 2-4 m.

Mollusks (phylum Mollusca): Invertebrates with a soft, unsegmented body, a muscular foot, and, with some exceptions, a calcareous shell.

Moraine: A mound or ridge of sediment and rock deposited by a retreating glacier.

Mound: Elongate offshore ridges or mounds of unconsolidated substrate or rocky remnants of eroding headlands (bars) or shallow masses of limestone; biogenically created by corals and coralline algae (shallow reefs).

Mouth: The entrance of the coastal waterway, the connection of a coastal waterbody to the sea, or the place where the sea meets or enters the coastal waterway.

Mud: Fine sedimentary material, typically comprising both inorganic (mineral) and organic material.

Mud substrate: Particle size of the primary material has a grain size <0.07 mm.

Mudflat: A flat, muddy bottom that is exposed at low tide.

Multiple (spatial pattern): Multiple repeating classification units on a substrate.

Native species: A local species that has not been introduced.

Neap tide: Tide smaller than the mean tidal range and of minimum monthly amplitude; occurs about every two weeks, during half-moons.

Nearshore marine regime: Those waters in the region between the coastal land margin and the 30 m depth contour and where the salinity is substantially marine, i.e. >30 psu throughout the year.

Negative estuary: an estuary in which evaporation exceeds freshwater inflow and therefore hypersaline conditions exist.

Nekton: Organisms that swim strongly enough to move against the current.

Neritic regime: The marine environment between the 30m depth contour and the Continental shelf-slope break (approximately 200m); salinity is substantially marine, i.e. >30 psu throughout the year. Although relatively farther from land than coastal systems, these regions can receive significant runoff influence from land and the water column is in close contact with the bottom relative to oceanic systems.

No energy intensity: No detectable waves or current motion.

Non-point sources: A source of sediment or nutrients that is not restricted to one discharge location.

No profile: Elevation of a feature relative to surrounding level of the water or bed is 0 m.

Oceanic crust: The Earth's crust which is formed at mid-oceanic ridges, typically 5 to 10 kilometers thick with a density of 3.0 grams per cubic centimeter.

Oceanic regime: Those waters of the open ocean, in areas beyond the shelf break in depths greater than 200 m, on average, extending to the maximum ocean depths. These waters are removed from primary continental influences, and the sea bottom interacts little or not at all with the majority of the water column.

Oceanic trench: Deep, steep-sided depression in the ocean floor caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath either other oceanic crust or continental crust.

Oceanic zone: The pelagic marine environment beyond the shelf-slope break with a depth greater than 200m.

Oligohaline salinity class: Water has a salinity level >0-5 psu.

Ooze substrate: Decomposed tests of sedimented microscopic organisms deposited on the bottom. Types of oozes include globagarina, diatomaceous and siliceous.

Open coast: Unenclosed and exposed coastal margin.

Open water: Areas of water not enclosed or bounded by land.

Organic material: Once-living material, typically with high carbon content, mostly of plant origin.

Organic substrate: Dead plant and animal tissue that partially decomposes to form a significant component of the sediments.

Outcrop: Any place where bedrock is exposed.

Overhang slope: Substrate with a vertical angle >90°.

Overwash: Deposit of marine-derived sediment landward of a barrier system, often formed during storm surge or flooding events.

Oxic class: Sediments or bottom water with an oxygen concentration of 4-10 mg/L.

Oxygenated class: Sediments or bottom water with an oxygen concentration >=4 mg/L.

Oxygen saturated class: Sediments or bottom water with an oxygen concentration of 10-12 mg/L.

Oxygen supersaturated class: Sediments or bottom water with an oxygen concentration >12 mg/L.

Oyster reef: A dense reef-forming bed of bivalve mollusk filter-feeders present in estuaries and marine environments, usually requiring moderate to high current speeds.

Partially enclosed (water body): 50%-75% of the area of a water body is encircled by land.

Particulate Nitrogen (PN): Nitrogen compounds associated with or a constituent of mineral particles and organic material.

Passive continental margin: A continental margin that is located at the "trailing edge" of a continent and as a result shows little geological activity.

Patch reef: A discontinuous reef growing in small areas, separated by bare areas of sand or debris, often part of a larger reef complex.

Patchy cover: A distribution of vegetation that is non-heterogeneous resulting in large spatial variation in density of cover.

Pavement substrate: Hard rock substrate that is flat with low profile.

Peat: A deposit of partly decayed plant remains in a very wet environment; marsh or swamp deposit of plant remains containing more than 50 percent carbon.

Peat substrate: Organic material laid down and consolidated into sediment:

Pelagic: Marine waters over the continental slope or rise in water depths >200m.

Pelagic fish: Fish that live in the open ocean at or near the water’s surface and usually migrate long distances. Examples include swordfish, tuna, and many species of shark.

Permanent temporal persistence: A geomorphologic feature that is stable over geologic timescales.

Peninsula: A large, prominent landform contiguous with and attached to the mainland, that juts into and is mostly surrounded by water.

Photic regime: Water column or benthic zone always receives light during the day.

Photic zone: The surface layer where there is sufficient light for photosynthesis to occur; where mean light intensity in the water column is >2% of surface light intensity.

Phytoplankton: Microscopic, planktonic plants that live, free-floating, within the water column.

Pillow lava: Lava extruded beneath water characterized by pillow-type shapes.

Pinnacle: A column of coral within the lagoon of an atoll (also coral knoll).

Plate: Rigid parts of the Earth's crust and part of the Earth's upper mantle that move and adjoin each other along zones of seismic activity. The theory that the crust and part of the mantle are divided into plates that interact with each other causing seismic and tectonic activity is called plate tectonics.

Point source: A source of sediment or nutrients into a water body that is restricted to one discharge location.

Polluted: Waters or substrates that receive nutrient, sewage, heavy metal or pesticide inputs from anthropogenic sources that are significantly above natural loading levels or abundances (e.g. EPA standards or local total maximum daily loads-TMDLs).

Polyhaline salinity class: Water has a salinity level of 18-30 psu.

Population: A group of organisms belonging to the same species and living in the same place.

Precipitate: Solutes such as CaCO3 that fall out out of solution, or the dissolved phase, and transition to the solid phase as particles.

Primary element: The dominant physical structure within a classification unit on a substrate.

Profile: The elevation of a feature relative to the surrounding level of the water or bed.

Prograde: The outward building of a sedimentary deposit, such as the seaward advance of a delta or shoreline.

psu: Practical salinity units- unit of measurement of salinity similar to part per thousand (ppt).

Pycnocline: Layer of rapid density transition between the upper and bottom water column layers.

Quartz: A highly resilient mineral based on silica (SiO2).

Radiolarian ooze: A type of biogenous sediment that consists mostly of the silica shells of radiolarians.

Reef: A large ridge or mound-like structure within a body of water that is built by calcareous organisms such as corals, red algae, and bivalves.

Reef crest: The shallow outer edge of the reef slope of a coral reef.

Reef flat: The wide and shallow upper surface of a coral reef.

Reef slope: The outer, steep margin of a coral reef. Also see fore reef.

Reef top: Surface feature of the seaward margin of windward reefs.

Residence Time: The average time a hypothetical particle of water spends in a water body between the time it first enters and the time it leaves.

Resuspended turbidity: Deposited materials that are mixed into the water column by currents (e.g. bottom sediments).

Resuspension: Process in which organisms, water, sediment particles and other materials lying on the bottom are carried into the water column by waves, tides, or wind.

Ridge: Elevated geoform extending vertically from the seafloor covered with shallow water and which may support unconsolidated sediments (shoals), rocks, or shallow reefs rising above the surface of the water.

Rift: A long, narrow crack in the entire thickness of the Earth's crust, which is bounded by normal faults on either side and forms as the crust is pulled apart. To split the Earth's crust.

Rippled texture: The substrate of a geomorphic structure has closely spaced, regular, repeating vertical variations in height of a sandy or muddy bottom with a very short wavelength (cm).

River: Lotic deeper water habitats within a channel that are influenced strongly by the energy of flowing water and habitats formed by or associated with rivers/streams and their margins.

River plume: Turbid fresh water flowing from land and generally in the distal part of a river outside the bounds of an estuary or river channel.

Salinity: The total mass of salts dissolved in seawater per unit mass of water; generally expressed in practical salinity units (psu) or parts per thousand mass of salt to mass of water (ppt).

Salt: A substance that consists of ions that have opposite electrical charges.

Salt marsh: A macrohabitat comprised of emergent rooted macrophytes in a soft sedimentary substrate tolerant of long periods of partial submersion along the shores of estuaries and sheltered coasts.

Salt wedge: A layer of denser, saltier seawater that intrudes into coastal waters in the form of a wedge along the seabed and that flows landward along the bottom in estuaries. The lighter fresh water from riverine sources overrides the denser salt water.

Sand: Sediment grains with diameters between 0.06 mm to 2 mm.

Sargasso Sea: The region of the Atlantic Ocean north of the West Indies that is characterized by floating masses of Sargasso weed, a brown alga.

Scour: Area that is eroded by water action.

Seabed: Subtidal ocean bottom, completely covered by the water at all times; distinct from the bottom within the littoral intertidal zone.

Seafloor spreading: The process of adding to the Earth's crust at mid-ocean ridges as magma wells up and forces previously formed crust apart.

Seagrass: Rooted, grass-like flowering angiosperms that are adapted to live in submersed in saline waters.

Seamount: A submarine volcano on the abyssal plain.

Seasonally photic: Water column or benthic zone regularly varies between photic and aphotic.

Sea surface: The surface of the ocean; interface of the ocean and the atmosphere.

Seaward energy direction: On land, water currents following along a topographic gradient toward the sea.

Seawater: Water with a salinity level of 35 psu.

Sedimentary rock substrate: Rock that is formed from gradual deposition of sediments, dewatering and diagenesis.

Semi-enclosed (water body): 25%-50% of the area of a water body is encircled by land.

Shallow: For non-Oceanic regimes, depths ranging 5-15 m.

Shear boundary: The boundary between two plates that move past each other on the earth's surface.

Shelf break: The section of the continental shelf where the slope abruptly becomes steeper, usually at a depth of 120 to 200 m.

Shell hash substrate: Substantially composed of small bits of broken shell remnants.

Siliceous ooze: A type of biogenous sediment that consists mostly of the silica shell and skeletons of marine organisms.

Sill: A sheet-like igneous intrusion that parallels the plane of the surrounding rock. In a fjord, the sill is at the marine or ocean end member presenting a barrier to flow, trapping the bottom water.

Silt: Very fine mud particles with diameters between 0.002 mm to 0.06 mm, laid down after water transport and deposition.

Sinkhole: A natural depression in the surface of the land caused by the collapse of the roof of a cavern or subterranean passage, generally occurring in limestone regions.

Slope: The angle of elevation of a geomorphologic feature.

Sloping (substrate): Feature with a vertical angle of 5-30°.

Small tide range: Difference between mean high tide and mean low tide at the coast is 0.1-1 m

Smooth texture: The substrate of a geomorphic structure has no appreciable texture.

Softcoral: Colonial anthozoans with no hard skeleton.

Soil: Unconsolidated materials above bedrock.

Solitary (spatial pattern): A single classification unit on a substrate.

Sorting: An expression of the range of grain sizes present in a sediment. A well-sorted sediment has a narrow range of grain sizes, whereas a poorly sorted sediment has a wide range of grain sizes.

Sparse cover: A vegetative cover of 0-10%

Spatial pattern: The patterning of the classification unit on a substrate.

Spring tide: Periodic and regular tide of maximum amplitude, greater than the mean tidal range; occurs about every two weeks, when the moon is full or new.

Steeply sloping: Feature with a vertical angle of 30-45°.

Stenohaline: Organism that can tolerate a narrow range of salinities.

Stochastic temporal persistence: A feature with a stability that varies stochastically, on an aperiodic schedule.

Strand plain: A series of dunes, typically associated with and parallel to a beach, and sometimes containing one or more small creeks or lakes.

Stratification: The separation of the water column into layers, with the densest water at the bottom and the least dense water at the surface. A stratified water column is stable.

Stratigraphy: The characteristics of rock layers, their distribution, composition, environment of deposition and age.

Stratum: A homogeneous layer of sedimentary rock.

Subaerial: Exposed feature above the sea surface, as opposed to submerged or sub-bottom.

Subbenthic subzone: In soft unconsolidated sediments, the substrata below the surface of the sediments.

Subduction: A geologic process in which one edge of one crustal plate is forced below the edge of another.

Subduction zone: A long narrow area in which subduction is taking place, e.g. the Peru-Chile trench, where the Pacific Plate is being subducted under the South American Plate.

Submarine canyon: Submerged earthform consisting of an incised large scale submarine feature on a high angle slope normally associated with the continental shelf.

Submerged bank: Large, relatively flat shoal or other expansive submerged feature that is markedly shallower than surrounding ocean bottom, e.g. Georges Bank with water depth between 30-50 m.

Subsidence: The sudden sinking or gradual downward settling of the earth’s surface with little or no horizontal motion.

Substrate: The sediment and other material that comprises the seabed or floor of coastal water body; the type of bottom or material on or in which an organism lives.

Subtidal: Permanently submerged below the level of low tide; an underwater environment.

Superchilled: Water column at a temperature <= 0° C without surface ice.

Supratidal subzone: The area of littoral land above the high tide line in the splash zone that is affected by spray, splash, aerosols, and overwash.

Surface mixed layer: The upper layer of water that is mixed by wind, waves, and currents.

Surface wave energy: Vertical and transverse oscillating surface water motion due to wind or seismic energy.

Suspended sediment: Sedimentary material subject to transport by flowing water (e.g. current) that is carried in suspension; typically comprised of relatively fine particles that settle at a lower rate than the upward velocity of water eddies.

Talus: Blocks and boulder materials accumulated at the base of high angle solid substrate shoreline often associated with cliffs or marine benches or ramps.

Tectonic: The forces that cause the movements and deformation of earth’s crust on a large scale; also the resulting structures or features from these forces.

Temperate: Water at a temperature of 10-20° C.

Terminal moraine: A mound or ridge of sediment and rock deposited at the front of a retreating glacier.

Temporal persistence: Referring to the permanency or temporal variability of a hydromorphic or geomorphic feature.

Terrigenous origin: Materials, water or energy in a water body receiving land drainage.

Texture: Qualitative variable that refers to the texture or roughness of the geomorphic structure of a substrate.

Tidal creek: Coastal waterway in which tides are the principal factor that shape the overall geomorphology; typically occur on prograding, muddy coasts and contain a narrow channel that drains the immediate land and is fringed by intertidal habitats.

Tidal current: An alternating, horizontal movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tide, these movements being caused by gravitational forces due to the relative motions of moon, sun and earth.

Tide energy: Energy resulting from periodic horizontally oscillating water motion.

Tidal prism: Volume of water moving into and out of an estuary or coastal waterway during the tidal cycle.

Tide range: The difference in water level between successive high and low tides.

Tidal wetlands: A coastal area that experiences periodic inundation as a result of daily tides.

Tide-dominated delta: Coastal waterway in which tides are the principal factor that shapes the overall geomorphology, and river input is sufficient to have filled the receiving basin; typically funnel-shaped, and the wide entrance may form a coastal protuberance that contains elongate tidal sand banks that fringed by inter- and supra-tidal habitats.

Tide-dominated estuary: Coastal water body in which tides are the principal factor shaping the overall geomorphology; typically funnel-shaped with a wide entrance containing elongate tidal sand banks. The margins are fringed by extensive intertidal habitats, separated by tidal channels.

Topography: The relief features of the earth's surface, above and below sea level; the set of landforms in a region.

Total Nitrogen (TN): Includes inorganic and organic forms of nitrogen in both dissolved and particulate form, but excludes gaseous N (e.g. N2).

Transgression: A rise in sea level relative to the land.

Trench: An elongated submerged geoform depression on the deepest margin of the ocean floor generally at depths >7000; typically associated with subduction zones along boundaries between oceanic and continental plates.

Trophic status: A general categorization of the abundance of dissolved macronutrients (DIN and DIP) and level of primary productivity of an area.

Turbidite: The sediments or rocks that are formed as the result of a turbidity flow.

Turbidity: The condition resulting from the presence of suspended particles in the water column which attenuate or reduce light penetration.

Turbidity current: A fast-flowing current that moves down-slope on the bottom, carrying and depositing suspended sediments over the floor of a water body.

Turbidity flow: A flow of dense, muddy water moving down a slope due to a turbidity current.

Unconsolidated substrate: Loose, non-diagenetic sediments, sands and shell.

Undulating texture: The substrate of a geomorphic structure has regular, repeating vertical variations in height of a sandy or muddy bottom with a long wavelength (>5 m).

Unenclosed water body: A water mass with no significant isolation by land form.

Unoxygenated class: Sediments or bottom water with an oxygen concentration <4 mg/L.

Unstructured spatial pattern: Patterning of a classification unit exhibits a low degree of physical complexity; homogeneous (e.g. a soft sand bottom).

Upland: An area that is higher relative to the surrounding areas, but not mountainous.

Upper slope: An oceanic bottom depth class at depths of 200-1000 m on the continental slope with a gradient of 4-25°.

Upper water column layer: In a two-layer water column, the area above the sharp density gradient (pycnocline) which includes the air-water interface.

Upward energy direction: Ascending and perpendicular to the sea surface or bottom.

Upwelling: Hydroform created by wind action or divergent surface currents that cause deeper waters move up to replace the surface water. These areas are often exposed to nutrient-rich deep waters rising to the surface from below the pycnocline. The transport of bottom water rich in nutrients enhances the growth of phytoplankton and other autotrophs. In these areas, life can be abundant.

Variable photic regime: Water column or benthos receives light that varies in intensity or quality on a regular basis.

Variable texture: The substrate of a geomorphic structure has a perceptible texture or feature that is regular in either frequency or pattern but irregular in direction and/or amplitude.

Variable spatial pattern: Classification units on a substrate that change significantly through time in one or more attributes (e.g. a Sand spit with rock outcrops, mudflats).

Variable temporal persistence: A feature with a temporal stability that varies.

Vegetated: A habitat or biotope unit that is characterized by a cover of rooted or attached vegetation.

Vertical Accretion: Accumulation of sediments or other material resulting in the building-up or infilling of an area in a vertical direction.

Vertical slope: Substrate with a vertical angle of 45-90°

Very shallow: For non-Oceanic regimes, depths ranging 0-5 m.

Volcanic: Describes the action or process of magma and gases rising to the crust and being extruded onto the surface and into the atmosphere; also applies to the resulting igneous rocks that cool on the surface of the earth, including beneath water, which typically have small crystals due to the rapidity of cooling.

Warm: Water or substrate at a temperature of 20-30° C.

Washover/Back barrier deposit: See overwash.

Water column: The vertical column of seawater that extends from the sea surface to the sea bottom.

Water mass: A body of water that can be identified by its temperature and salinity, or by physical boundaries, either geomorphic or hydromorphic.

Wave: The undulation that forms as a disturbance moves along the surface of the water. Waves are described by height (vertical distance between crest and trough), wavelength (horizontal distance between adjacent crests), and period (time the wave takes to move past a given point).

Wave-dominated delta: Coastal water body in which waves are the principal factor that shape the overall geomorphology, and river input is sufficient to have filled in the basin so that there is limited space for continued sediment accumulation; characterized by a sandy barrier and a river channel that has a direct connection with the sea.

Wave-dominated Estuary: Coastal waterbody in which waves are the principal factor in shaping the overall geomorphology; characterized by a sandy barrier (partially constricting the entrance) that is backed a broad central basin and a fluvial delta, where the river enters the basin.

Waves (texture): The substrate of a geomorphic structure has regular, repeating vertical variations in height of a sandy or muddy bottom with an intermediate wavelength (<1m).

Wetland: Partially or permanently flooded, sedimentary flat that is vegetated by vascular plants.

Wind energy: Coherent directional motion of the atmosphere.

No Entries

Zooplankton: Non-photosynthetic, heterotrophic planktonic organisms, including protists, small animals, and larvae.

Literature Cited

Allee, R. J., Dethier, M., Brown, D. Deegan, L. Ford, G.R., Hourigan, T. R., Maragos, J., Schoch, C., Sealey, K., Twilley, R., Weinstein, M. P., and M. Yoklavich, Mary. 2000. Marine and Estuarine Ecosystem and Habitat Classification. NOAA Technical Memorandum. NMFS-F/SPO-43.

Castro, P. and Huber, M. 1997. Marine Biology 2nd edition. Wm C. Brown publishers 435 pp.

Holthus, P. F. and James E. Maragos. 1995. Marine Ecosystem Classification for the Tropical Island Pacific. In J. E. Maragos, M. N. Peterson, L.G. Eldredge, J.E. Bardach and H.F. Takeuchi [eds] Marine and Coastal Biodiversity in the Tropical Island Pacific Region. V 1

Species Systematics and Information Management Priorities. Program on Environment, East-West Center, Honolulu, HI, pp 239-278.

Firth, F. E. [ed]. 1969. The Encyclopedia of Marine Resources. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. New York, U.S.A. 740 pp.

Version 1.0
Data Last Updated: January 2006