The term beach, though commonly used, has been defined in many ways. The two most frequently used definitions are (a) the accumulation of unconsolidated sediment that is limited by the low tide line on the seaward margin and by the limit of storm wave action on the landward side (Davis, 1982), and (b) the narrow portion of a coast that extends from the closure depth (the depth at which tide and wave action cease to cause a significant landward/seaward movement of sediment on the sea floor) inland until an abrupt change in slope or a physical boundary is encountered (Ritter, 1995).
A typical beach is shown in Figure B2. The beach may be divided into three zones: the nearshore, foreshore, and backshore. The nearshore zone lies between the closure depth (which may be as deep as 25 m) and the low-tide line. It is subject to continuous sediment movement from the return of water along the sea floor from waves breaking onshore and is permanently submerged. Within the nearshore zone, a...
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Bird, E. C. F., 1969. Coasts: An Introduction to Systematic Geomorphology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Davis, R. A. Jr., 1982. Beaches. In Schwartz, M. L. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Beaches and Coastal Environments. Stroudsburg, Penn.: Hutchinson Ross, pp. 140–1.
Dubois, R. N., 1988. Seasonal changes in beach topography and beach volume in Delaware. Marine Geol., 81, 79–96.
Ritter, D. F., 1995. Process Geomorphology. (3rd edn) Dubuque, Iowa: Wm C. Brown.
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© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Daniels, R.C. (1999). Beaches. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_28
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