2. Terminology . 



The offshore zone is defined as that region o£ variable width extending 

 from the breaker zone to the seaward edge of the Continental Shelf (American 

 Geological Institute, 1972; U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Coastal Engineering 

 Research Center, 1977) (Fig. 2). The neco'shore zone is the indefinite zone ex- 

 tending from the low water shoreline well beyond the breaker zone, defining the 

 area of nearshore currents, and including the inshore zone and part of the off- 

 shore zone (American Geological Institute, 1972; U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, 

 Coastal Engineering Research Center, 1977). The -inshore zone is the zone of 

 variable width extending from the low water shoreline through the breaker zone 

 (American Geological Institute, 1972; U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Coastal 

 Engineering Research Center, 1977) . The principal dynamic zones comprising the 

 nearshore include the swash zone, the surf zone, and the region seaward of the 

 surf zone characterized by shoaling waves (Fig. 2). 



•Beach or Shore ■ 



♦-Bockshore- 



-Foreshore- 



Neorshore 



~\ <\ 



-Offshore- 



Figure 2. Coastal zone terminology and principal 

 dynamic zones. 



Overlap, thus, exists in the areas referred to by the terms nearshore and 

 offshore. The selection of a distinct boundary for these areas is not easy, or 

 perhaps even possible, due to the transitional nature of the zones, a lack of 

 distinct physical criteria, and temporal -s'patial variations in the properties 

 of the zones (e.g., varying extent of the nearshore currents). 



The seaward limit to this study lies within the innermost part of the off- 

 shore zone. Because the nearshore zone encompasses this part of the offshore 

 zone, the term nearshore zone is used to refer to the overall subaqueous coastal 

 setting of this study. The term offshore zone is used to refer to any point sea- 

 ward of the surf zone. For purposes of data analysis and discussion in this 

 study, the beach and nearshore is subdivided into beach, inshore, and offshore 

 sub zones. 



The terms offshore and nearshore are commonly used in coastal studies. Re- 

 searchers studying the subaerial beach, or both the combined beach and nearshore 

 zones, sometimes refer to seaward losses of sand from the beach into the adjacent 

 subaqueous zone as losses to the offshore zone (Watts, 1958; Caldwell, 1966, 

 Gorsline, 1966; Everts, DeWall, and Czerniak, 1974; Nordstrom and Inman, 1975; 

 Komar, 1976, pp. 291-294). Many laboratory and field studies involving sediment 

 texture, currents, and sand transport in the same shallow region immediately 

 seaward of the breakpoint, commonly refer to this zone as the nearshore zone 

 (Cook and Gorsline, 1972; Davis and Ethington, 1976; Schwartz, in preparation, 

 1980). Alternatively, nourishment projects in which sediment is placed in the 



