Save
Upgrade to remove ads
Busy. Please wait.
Log in with Clever
or
show password
Forgot Password?
Don't have an account?  Sign up 
Sign up using Clever
or
Username is available taken
show password


Make sure to remember your password. If you forget it there is no way for StudyStack to send you a reset link. You would need to create a new account. Your email address is only used to allow you to reset your password. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Already a StudyStack user? Log In

Reset Password
Enter the associated with your account, and we'll email you a link to reset your password.
focusNode
Didn't know it?
click below
 
Knew it?
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
0:00
edit
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.

  Normal Size     Small Size show me how

Geology Ch. 18

Oceans and Coasts

TermDefinition
Coast The belt of land bordering the sea.
Continental shelf A broad, shallowly submerged fringe of a continent; ocean-water depth over the continental shelf is generally less than 200 meters; the widest continental shelves occur over passive margins.
Bathymetry Variation in depth.
Abyssal plain A broad, relatively flat region of the ocean that lies at least 4.5 km below sea level.
Active continental margin A continental margin that coincides with a plate boundary.
Submarine canyon A narrow, steep canyon that dissects a continental shelf and slope.
Pelagic sediment Microscopic plankton shells and fine flakes of clay that settle out and accumulate on the deep-ocean floor.
Seamount An isolated submarine mountain.
Salinity The degree of concentration of salt in water.
Current (1) A well-defined stream of ocean water; (2) the moving flow of water in a stream.
Coriolis effect The deflection of objects, winds, and currents on the surface of the Earth owing to the planet's rotation.
Tide The daily rising or falling of sea level at a given point on the Earth.
Tidal range The difference in sea level between high tide and low tide at a given point.
Thermohaline circulation The rising and sinking of water driven by contrasts in water density, which is due in turn to differences in temperature and salinity; this circulation involves both surface and deep-water currents in the ocean.
Tide-generating force The force, caused in part by the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon and in part by the centrifugal force created by the Earth's spin, that generates tides.
Wave base The depth, approximately equal in distance to half a wavelength in a body of water, beneath which there is no wave movement.
Rogue wave Waves that are two to five times the size of most of the large waves passing a locality in a given time interval.
Wave refraction The bending of waves as they approach a shore so that their crests make no more than a 5° angle with the shoreline.
Backwash The gravity-driven flow of water back down the slope of a beach.
Swash The upward surge of water that flows up a beach slope when breakers crash onto the shore.
Longshore current The flow of water parallel to the shore just off a coast, because of the diagonal movement of waves toward the shore.
Longshore drift The movement of sediment laterally along a beach; it occurs when waves wash up a beach diagonally.
Beach A gently sloping fringe of sediment along the shore.
Sand spit An area where the beach stretches out into open water across the mouth of a bay or estuary.
Bioturbation The mixing of sediment by burrowing animals such as clams and worms.
Estuary An inlet in which seawater and river water mix; created when a coastal valley is flooded because of either rising sea level or land subsidence.
Organic coast A coast along which living organisms control landforms along the shore.
Coastal wetland A flat-lying coastal area that floods during high tide and drains during low tide, and hosts salt-resistant plants.
Fjord A deep, glacially carved, U-shaped valley flooded by rising sea level.
Coral reef A mound of coral and coral debris forming a region of shallow water.
Guyot A seamount that had a coral reef growing on top of it, so that it is now flat-crested.
Emergent coast A coast where the land is rising relative to sea level or sea level is falling relative to the land.
Coastal plain Low-relief regions of land adjacent to the coast.
Submergent coast A coast at which the land is sinking relative to sea level.
Storm surge Excess seawater driven landward by wind during a storm; the low atmospheric pressure beneath the storm allows sea level to rise locally, increasing the surge.
Beach erosion The removal of beach sand caused by wave action and longshore currents.
Created by: jabflat
Popular Earth Science sets

 

 



Voices

Use these flashcards to help memorize information. Look at the large card and try to recall what is on the other side. Then click the card to flip it. If you knew the answer, click the green Know box. Otherwise, click the red Don't know box.

When you've placed seven or more cards in the Don't know box, click "retry" to try those cards again.

If you've accidentally put the card in the wrong box, just click on the card to take it out of the box.

You can also use your keyboard to move the cards as follows:

If you are logged in to your account, this website will remember which cards you know and don't know so that they are in the same box the next time you log in.

When you need a break, try one of the other activities listed below the flashcards like Matching, Snowman, or Hungry Bug. Although it may feel like you're playing a game, your brain is still making more connections with the information to help you out.

To see how well you know the information, try the Quiz or Test activity.

Pass complete!
"Know" box contains:
Time elapsed:
Retries:
restart all cards