Cuspate Foreland
Cuspate forelands, also known as cuspate barriers or nesses in Britain, are geographical features found on coastlines and lakeshores that are created primarily by longshore drift.Craig-Smith, S. J., Cuspate Forelands. In: M. L. Schwartz, ed. 2005. ''Encyclopedia of Coastal Science.'' The Netherlands: Springer, pp. 354–355. Formed by accretion and progradation of sand and shingle, they extend outwards from the shoreline in a triangular shape. Some cuspate forelands may be stabilised by vegetation, while others may migrate down the shoreline. Because some cuspate forelands provide an important habitat for flora and fauna, effective management is required to reduce the impacts from both human activities and physical factors such as climate change and sea level rise. Formation The debate involving how cuspate forelands form is ongoing.McNinch, J. E., and Luettich, R. A., 2000. Physical processes around a cuspate foreland: implications to the evolution and long-term maintenance of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sediment
Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand and silt can be carried in suspension (chemistry), suspension in river water and on reaching the sea bed deposited by sedimentation; if buried, they may eventually become sandstone and siltstone (sedimentary rocks) through lithification. Sediments are most often transported by water (fluvial, fluvial processes), but also wind (aeolian processes) and glaciers. Beach sands and stream channel, river channel deposits are examples of fluvial transport and deposition (geology), deposition, though sediment also often settles out of slow-moving or standing water in lakes and oceans. Desert sand dunes and loess are examples of aeolian transport and deposition. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pioneer Species
Pioneer species are resilient species that are the first to colonize barren environments, or to repopulate disrupted biodiverse steady-state ecosystems as part of ecological succession. Various kinds of events can create good conditions for pioneers, including disruption by natural disasters, such as wildfire, flood, mudslide, lava flow or a climate-related extinction event, or by anthropogenic habitat destruction, such as through land clearance for agriculture or construction or industrial damage. Pioneer species play an important role in creating soil in primary succession, and stabilizing soil and nutrients in secondary succession. For humans, because pioneer species quickly occupy disrupted spaces, they are sometimes treated as weeds or nuisance wildlife, such as the common dandelion or stinging nettle. Even though humans have mixed relationships with these plants, these species tend to help improve the ecosystem because they can break up compacted soils and accumulate ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gabo Island
Gabo Island is a island located off the coast of eastern Victoria, Australia, between Mallacoota and Cape Howe on the border with New South Wales. It is separated from the mainland by a channel; access is available by arranged flights and boats. Gabo Island is a shipping reference commonly referred to in Victorian weather warnings issued by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The island is an unincorporated area under the direct administration of the government of Victoria. Gabo Island Lighthouse Gabo Island is well known for its historic lighthouse. This lighthouse, Australia's second tallest, was completed in 1862 and made from pink granite quarried from the island itself. The focal plane of the light is situated at above sea level, the characteristic is a group of three flashes that occurs every twenty seconds. A keeper's house is occupied by a caretaker; another building may be rented for overnight stays. Climate Gabo Island has a moderate oceanic climate (''Cfb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tombolo
A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. It is a deposition landform by which an island becomes attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached, the island is then known as a tied island. The word ''tombolo'' is from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as '' ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind). Several islands tied together by bars which rise above the water level are called a tombolo cluster. Two or more tombolos may form an enclosure (called a lagoon) that can eventually fill with sediment. Formation The shoreline moves toward the island (or detached breakwater) owing to the accretion of sand in the lee of the island, where wave energy and longshore drift are reduced and therefore deposition of sand occurs. Wave diffraction and refraction True tombolos are formed by wave refraction and diffraction. As waves near an island, they are slowed by the shallow water surroundi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Water Table
The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the locality. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. The portion above the water table is the vadose zone. It may be visualized as the "surface" of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. In coarse soils, the water table settles at the surface where the water Hydraulic head, pressure head is equal to the atmospheric pressure (where gauge pressure = 0). In soils where capillary action is strong, the water table is pulled upward, forming a capillary fringe. The groundwater may be from precipitation or from more distant groundwater flowing into the aquifer. In areas with sufficient precipitation, water infiltrates through pore spaces in the soil, passing through t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dungeness
Dungeness (, ) is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet of Dungeness, and an ecology, ecological site at the same location. It lies within the civil parish of Lydd. Etymology Dungeness's name means "the headland at Denge", referring to nearby Denge Marsh. The marsh is first mentioned in 774 as ''Dengemersc''. Its name may mean "marsh of the pasture district", from Old English ''denn *gē mersc'', or else "marsh with manured land", from Old English ''dyncge mersc''. Nature Ecology Dungeness is one of the largest expanses of shingle in Europe. It is of international conservation importance for its geomorphology, plant and invertebrate communities and bird life. This is recognised and protected mostly through its conservation designations as a national nature reserve (United Kingdom), natio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lagoons
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') and ''atoll lagoons''. They have also been identified as occurring on mixed-sand and gravel coastlines. There is an overlap between bodies of water classified as coastal lagoons and bodies of water classified as estuaries. Lagoons are common coastal features around many parts of the world. Definition and terminology Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from a larger body of water by a shallow or exposed shoal, coral reef, or similar feature. Some authorities include fresh water bodies in the definition of "lagoon", while others explicitly restrict "lagoon" to bodies of water with some degree of salinity. The distinction between "lagoon" and "estuary" also varies between authorities. Richard A. Davis Jr. restricts " ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Victoria (Victoria)
Lake Victoria is a shallow saline lake on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria in Australia, close to the township of Point Lonsdale and part of the Lonsdale Lakes Nature Reserve administered by Parks Victoria. Location and features The lake is separated from Bass Strait by a narrow strip of coastal dunes. It forms part of the Swan Bay wetland system of shallow marine areas and lagoons, and is an important wetland for waterbirds and waders.Hewish, M.J. (2003). ''Fauna values of three sub-coastal wetlands on the Bellarine Peninsula: Lake Victoria, Freshwater Lake and St Leonards Salt Lagoon''. Parks Victoria Technical Series No.10. Parks Victoria: Melbourne. ISSN 1448-4935 The site is part of the Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International. Birds of conservation significance for which the lake and its surrounds are important include the hooded plover, little egret and orange-bellied parrot. It sometimes holds int ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest average water lake retention time, residence time. At its deepest point, Lake Erie is deep, making it the only Great Lake whose deepest point is above sea level. Located on the Canada–United States border, International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie's northern shore is the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, specifically the Ontario Peninsula, with the U.S. states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (state), New York on its western, southern, and eastern shores. These jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake with water boundaries. The largest city on the lake is Cleveland, anchoring the third largest U.S. metro area in the Great Lakes region, after Chicago metropoli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Point Pelee
Point Pelee National Park (; ) is a national park in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada where it extends into Lake Erie. The word is French for 'bald'. Point Pelee consists of a peninsula of land, mainly of marsh and woodland habitats, that tapers to a sharp point as it extends into Lake Erie. Middle Island, also part of Point Pelee National Park, was acquired in 2000 and is just north of the Canada–United States border in Lake Erie. Point Pelee is the southernmost point of mainland Canada, and is located on a foundation of glacial sand, silt and gravel that bites into Lake Erie. This spit of land is slightly more than seven kilometres long by wide at its northern base. Established in 1918, Point Pelee was the first national park in Canada to be established for conservation. It was designated as a Ramsar site on 27 May 1987. History Aboriginal people lived on Point Pelee for many years before European colonization, dating back to at least 6,000 years. The large ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |