11-17 



estuarine systems of the Southwest, except for San Francisco Bay, 

 which receives fresh water runoff from much of central California. 



Estuarine systems of the islands, both Atlantic and Pacific, 

 are few and consist mostly of embayments without major river 

 inflows. 



The estuarine zone can be classified according to its local 

 morphology into ten major categories, several of which exist in 

 each of the estuarine biophysical regions. Within each of these 

 categories, the similarities in structure reflect similarities in 

 water movement, water quality, and ecology which make it possible 

 to apply lessons learned in managing an estuarine system in one 

 region to similar estuarine systems in other regions. The 

 morphological categories are: 



1.1 Smooth shoreline without inlets 



1.2 Smooth shoreline with inlets 



1.3 Smooth shoreline with small embayments 



2.1 Indented shoreline without islands 



2.2 Indented shoreline with islands 



3 Marshy shoreline 



4 Unrestricted river entrance 



5.1 Embayment with only coastal drainage 



5.2 Embayment with continuous upland river inflow 

 6 Fjord 



