Exam 15: Oceans, Shorelines, and Shoreline Processes

What causes a wave to break when it reaches shore?

Define the photic and aphotic zones in the ocean.

How are sea cliffs eroded?

What caused the bulk of the damage that was done by Hurricane Katrina to the city of New Orleans? Why was New Orleans so vulnerable?

The balance between additions and losses of sediment in the nearshore zone is known as the _________________________.

In what direction do longshore currents flow?

Rip currents are important in the erosion and deposition of sediment along shorelines.

Outline the factors that create global surface circulation patterns and describe the patterns created.Where are the cold water currents and where are the warm water currents? How does this moderate Earth's temperature?

Water in waves is displaced from the circular orbits when:

What are spring tides and neap tides,and what causes them?

A region with an emergent coast is Scandinavia due to isostatic rebound.

Regularly-sized waves with long,rounded crests are known as ____________________.

The largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry was from the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound,Alaska.

What is a beach,and what are the component parts of a beach?

What are the two factors that control the absolute rate of sea level rise in a particular shoreline?

A structure built perpendicular to shore to enlarge a beach or prevent erosion is a(n)____________________.

What are winter beaches and summer beaches? How can the same beach have two such different seasonal profiles?

A(n)____________________ is the location where land meets the sea;a(n)____________________ is that plus the land both seaward and landward of it.

The average salinity of seawater can be expressed as ____________________ grams per kilogram of seawater,____________________ parts per thousand,and ____________________ percent.

Rip currents commonly develop in regions where wave heights are highest.