IV-52 



SECTION 4. THE LAND AND THE iJATER 



Nowhere on the Earth's surface are land and water as intimately 

 related as in the estuarine zone, and nowhere are their inter- 

 actions so significant in the ultimate effect on man's environ- 

 ment. 



Concern with the quality of the environment is couched ultimately 

 in terms of its effect on life forms --whether it is safe for human 

 beings to be near, whether it looks clean, and whether desirable 

 aquatic life forms can live and reproduce in it. These conditions 

 are measured in terms of the magnitudes of water quality parameters 

 whicn tell indirectly what the water quality is. These magnitudes 

 depend not only upon the character and concentrations of waste 

 materials, but also upon the rapidity with which a particular 

 system can purge itself of damaging agents. 



The shape of land along the land-sea interface goes far toward 

 determining what water movement and circulation patterns exist in 

 particular local areas, and, consequently, how fast a particular 

 estuarine system will rid itself of pollutants. Within the 

 estuarine regions discussed in the preceding section, different 

 structural types define patterns of water movement typical of 

 particular structures, no matter what the external environment may be, 



