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THE BIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT 



Laws regulating the socioeconomic environment exist at several 

 levels of governmental authority. The Constitution presents 

 general guiding principles, State constitutions operate within this 

 framework while establishing a more detailed body of law designed 

 to satisfy the needs of the statewide socioeconomic environment, 

 and local ordinances regulate in detail the activities carried out 

 in specific locations. 



The biophysical environment is also subject to a hierarchy of 

 laws, regulations, and conditions. The general guiding principles 

 are those fundamental natural laws which govern all life on the 

 earth; at the interfacial zone between land and sea the effects of 

 these laws appear as universal dominating environmental factors. 

 The structure of the coastline, formed and modified in obedience 

 to these general conditions, imposes a second level of natural law 

 which exerts its primary effects on water movement in the estuarine 

 zone; and, within each structural form exists a host of organisms 

 living according to specific natural ordinances which govern their 

 relationships. 



Dominating Environmental Factors 



The natural estuarine environment is based on the conversion of 

 radiant solar energy into other forms of energy with the assistance 

 of the mechanical effects of gravitational energy. This conversion 



