Glossary of Ocean Terms -- Beach-Net

Beach-Net!'s
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Backbarrier Flats

Low-lying sandy regions on the landward side of the sand dunes. Often covered with salt-tolerant grasses and shrubs.

Backbarrier Marsh

Marsh formed behind a coastal barrier, often containing significant coarse sediment that has washed in from the seaward side.

Backrush

The seaward return of water following the uprush of the waves. For any given tide stage, the point of farthest return seaward of the backrush is known as the limit of backrush.

Backshore

That zone of shore or beach lying between the foreshore and the dunes and acted upon by waves only during severe storms, especially when combined with exceptionally high water. It includes the berm or groins.

Bar

A submerged or emerged mound of sand, gravel or shell material built on the ocean floor in shallow water by waves and currents.

Barrier Beach

A sedimentary land-form essentially parallel to the shore, the crest of which is above normal high water level. Also called a barrier island.

Barrier Island

A barrier beach that is unconnected to the mainland.

Barrier Lagoon

A bay roughly parallel to the coast and separated from the open ocean by barrier islands or spits.

Barrier Spit

A barrier beach that is connected to land at one end with the other end extending into a body of water such as a bay, lagoon or ocean.

Bay

A recess in the shore or an inlet of a sea between two capes or headlands, not as large as a gulf but larger than a cove.

Beach

A zone of unconsolidated material that extends landward from the low water line to the place where there is marked change in material or physiographic form, or to the line of permanent vegetation (usually the effective limit of storm waves).

Beach Erosion

The carrying away of beach materials by wave action, tidal currents, littoral currents or wind.

Beach Face

The section of the beach normally exposed to the action of wave uprush. The foreshore of a beach.

Berm

In a barrier beach system, the relatively flat, sandy area between the berm crest and the dunes formed by the deposit of material by wave action. Some beaches have no berm, others have one or several.

Berm Crest

The seaward limit of a berm.

Breakwater

A linear, floating or mound-like coastal engineering structure constructed offshore parallel to the shoreline to proteft a shoreline, harbor or anchorage from storm waves.

Bypassing Sand

Hydraulic or mechanical movement of sand, from an area of accretion to a downdrift area of erosion, across a barrier to natural sand transport such as an inlet or harbor entrance. The hydraulic movement may include natural movement as well as movement caused by man.