DOWNDRIFT The direction in which littoral drift is moving. 



DENDROCHRONOLOGY The examination and correlation of growth rings 

 of trees with the purpose of dating events in the recent past. 



EL NINO Warm equatorial water which flows southward along the coast of 

 Peru during February and March of certain years. It is caused by 

 poleward motions of air, which cause coastal downwelling, leading to the 

 reversal in the normal north-flowing cold coastal currents. El Nino can 

 cause great reduction in the fisheries and severe economic hardships. 



ESTUARY A widened tidal mouth at a river valley where fresh water comes 

 into contact with sea water, resulting in mixing and a complex biological 

 and chemical environment. 



EUSTATIC SEA LEVEL CHANGE Change in the relative volume of the 

 world's ocean basins and the total amount of ocean water. It must be 

 measured by recording the movement in sea surface elevation relative to a 

 stable, undeformed, universally adopted reference frame. 



FLUVIAL Pertaining to streams; e.g. fluvial sediments. 



FORESET (bed) Inclined layers of a cross-bedded unit, specifically on the 

 frontal slope of a delta or the lee of a dune. 



HALF-LIFE The time required for half of the atoms of a radioactive element 

 to disintegrate into atoms of another element. 



HEAVY MINERAL Mineral species with a specific gravity greater than a 

 heavy liquid such as bromoform used to separate heavies from lighter 

 minerals. Usually with a specific gravity of around 2.9 or higher. 



HOLOCENE An epoch of the Quaternary period from the end of the 



Pleistocene (approximately 8,000 years ago) to the present. Often used as 

 a synonym for recent. 



INLET A connecting passage between two bodies of water (Figure 2). 



INTERTIDAL Between high and low water. 



JETTY A shore-perpendicular structure built to stabilize an inlet and prevent 

 the inlet channel from filling with sediment. 



LAGOON Open water between a coastal barrier and the mainland. Also 

 water bodies behind coral reefs and enclosed by atolls (Figure 2). 



LAMINAE (or lamina) The thinnest recognizable layers in a sediment or 

 sedimentary rock. 



A2 



Appendix A 



