Appendix A 

 Glossary 



ANOXIC Refers to ocean basins which contain little or no dissolved oxygen 

 and hence little or no benthic marine life. These conditions arise in basins 

 or fjords where physical circulation of seawater is limited. 



BACK BARRIER Pertaining to the lagoon-marsh-tidal creek complex in the 

 lee of a coastal barrier island, barrier spit, or bay mouth barrier 

 (Figure 2). 



BARRIERS, COASTAL Elongate, shore parallel, usually sandy features that 

 front coasts in many places and are separated from the mainland by bodies 

 of water of various sizes, and/or salt marshes, lagoons, mud or sand flats, 

 and tidal creeks (Figures 2 and 3). 



BED FORMS Deviations from a flat bed generated by stream flow on the 

 bed of an alluvial channel. 



BIOTURBATION The disturbance of sediment bedding by the activities of 

 burrowing organisms. 



BOTTOMSET (bed) One of the horizontal or gently inclined sediment layers 

 deposited in front of the advancing forest beds of a delta. 



CLOSURE DEPTH The depth beyond which sediments are not normally 

 affected by waves. 



COASTAL PLAIN A relatively low plain of subdued topography underlain 

 by horizontal or gently sloping sedimentary strata extending inland of a 

 coastline. 



CONTINENTAL SHELF The submerged zone bordering a coast from the 

 toe of the shoreface to the depth where there is a marked steepening of 

 slope. 



DELTAIC Pertaining to river deltas. 



A1 



Appendix A 



