LOW WATER LINE 



SHELF mCH 

 BROAD CONVEX SHELF E96C 

 CONCAVE SHELF CDCC 

 IRREGULAfl SHELF EDCC 



Figure 7. Idealized profile of the Continental Shelf sliomng major geomorphic elements. 



As used in this study, shoreface refers to a relatively steep slope descending from the low 

 water hne or an inshore terrace to a break in slope at the level of the shelf floor. The shelf 

 floor ("ramp" of Price, 1954) is typically a broad, gently seaward sloping submerged plain 

 generally comprising the bulk of the shelf surface. The shelf edge ("camber" of Price, 1954) 

 lying at the outer margin of the shelf, is a transitional zone between the gently sloping shelf 

 floor and tlie relatively steep upper continental slope. It lies between the first significant 

 inflection of the outer shelf floor downward toward the continental slope and the first 

 significant inflection of the upper slope toward the shelf floor. Tlus transitional zone may 

 consist of a convex, sharply rounded shoulder as in the classic shelf profile or be either 

 concave, irregular, stepUke or broadly rounded. 



b. Description. North of Cape Canaveral the shelf has an atypical configuration (Fig. 8, 

 profile D) with a 13.5-nautical mile wide broadly rounded slielf edge and a shelf floor of 

 about the same width. The floor is highly irregular because of overlying sediment accretions 

 in the form of Hnear and arcuate cape-associated shoals. The seaward edge of the shelf floor 

 is obscured in places by these shoals but Hes near —80 feet mean low water (MLW). The 

 break between the shelf edge and the Florida-Hatteras slope in this area lies at about -250 

 feet MLW. The inshore sediments north of Cape Canaveral are not disposed in a shoreface 

 slope, forming rather, several north-trending shore-connected linear shoals. 



A more typical shelf profile develops to the north of profile D as the shelf takes on the 

 aspect typified by profile C (Fig. 8). Inshore there is a prominent shoreface with the toe 

 lying at about 45 to 50 feet deep and witliin 1.2 nautical miles of shore. The shelf floor 

 widens to about 27 nautical miles while the edge narrows and become distinctly steeper 

 than the ramp. Except for groups of prominent linear shoals off Turtle Mound (28°56'N.) 

 and Daytona Beach (29°12'N.) irregularities of shelf floor topography north of the cape 

 area are subdued. They are mostly broad, flat-topped topographic highs of irregular outbne 

 and broad Unear topographic depressions; typically these features have less than a 20-foot 



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