4 Terms
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Coastal engineering
A branch of civil engineering that applies engineering principles specifically to projects within the coastal zone including areas nearshore, estuary, marine, and shoreline.
Industry: Engineering
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Coastal engineering
Reference marker
Engineering; Coastal engineering
A mark of permanent character close to a survey station, to which it is related by an accurately measured distance and azimuth (or bearing).
Atoll
Engineering; Coastal engineering
A ring-shaped coral reef, often carrying low sand islands, enclosing a shallow lagoon. The reef is surrounded by deep water of the open sea.
Emergent coast
Engineering; Coastal engineering
A coast in which land formerly under water has recently been exposed above sea level, either by uplift of the land or by a drop in sea level.
Turbidity current
Engineering; Coastal engineering
A flowing mass of sediment-laden water that is heavier than clear water and therefore flows downslope along the bottom of the sea or a lake.
Low water datum
Engineering; Coastal engineering
An approximation to the plane of mean low water that has been adopted as a standard reference plane. See also datum, plane and chart datum.
Wave height coefficient
Engineering; Coastal engineering
The ratio of the wave height at a selected point to the deepwater wave height. The refraction coefficient multiplied by the shoaling factor.
Foam line
Engineering; Coastal engineering
(1) The front of a wave as it advances shoreward, after it has broken. (2) Lines of foam such as those which move around the head of a rip.
