What is Backshore and foreshore?

What is Backshore and foreshore?

The nearshore is always underwater, while the foreshore is that part of the beach extending from the mean low water line to the highest elevation reached by waves at normal high tide. The backshore encompasses the area landward from the water’s reach at normal high tide to the maximum uprush during storms.

What is a tide breaker?

Breaker bars, also called nearshore sandbars, are elongated (approximately) shore parallel bodies of sand or gravel built in the surf zone due to the action of breaking waves and cross-currents.

What is the swash zone?

The swash zone is located at the landward edge of the surf zone on the upper part of the beach profile that is subjected to inundation (Fig. 8.1A). It is where incoming surf zone waves force oscillatory motion of the shoreline (land–sea boundary) at a variety of frequencies, typically greater than 0.003 Hz.

What is the end of a beach called?

The berm has a crest (top) and a face—the latter being the slope leading down towards the water from the crest. At the very bottom of the face, there may be a trough, and further seaward one or more long shore bars: slightly raised, underwater embankments formed where the waves first start to break.

What is it called when the tide is in?

The incoming tide along the coast and into the bays and estuaries is called a flood current; the outgoing tide is called an ebb current.

What is backshore in geography?

Definition of Backshore: The part of the beach lying between the beach face and the dune foot or the coastline.

What is beach face?

The beach face is the part of the shore/beach which is wetted due to the varying tide and swash under normal conditions.

Why is swash important?

The swash zone is important to the sediment budget of the nearshore because it is the region of shore- line erosion or accretion, and swash processes determine whether sediment is stored on the upper beach or is in- stead returned to the inner surf zone and potentially transported offshore.

Why is it called a spit of land?

spit, in geology, narrow coastal land formation that is tied to the coast at one end. Spits frequently form where the coast abruptly changes direction and often occur across the mouths of estuaries; they may develop from each headland at harbour mouths.

What are the essential features of backshore?

The key features of Backshore include well-sorted and well-rounded sediments; coarse and medium sand; parallel bedding and low-angle cross-bedding in sedimentary structure.

What are ridges and Runnels?

Ridges are areas of the foreshore that are raised above the adjacent shore which dips into a Runnel. The cross-section is similar to that of hills and valleys but at a much smaller scale. Ridge and runnel systems are formed due to the interaction of tides, currents, sediments and the beach topography.

What is littoral theory?

a. Littoral water rights are given to owners of property that share boundaries with non flowing water bodies while Riparian water rights are right accrued the owner of property adjacent to flowing water bodies such as streams and rivers.

What is a nearshore zone?

What is the nearshore? This is a general term for the shoreline area that encompasses the foreshore (intertidal from the highest high tide to the lowest low tide) and subtidal zones (below low tide zone) to a depth of 10 meters.