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The littoral zone, also called litoral or nearshore, is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. [1] In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas that are permanently submerged — known as the foreshore — and the terms are often used interchangeably.
For privately owned beaches in the United States, some states such as Massachusetts use the low-water mark as the dividing line between the property of the State and that of the beach owner; however the public still has fishing, fowling, and navigation rights to the zone between low and high water. Other states such as California use the high ...
Figure 2. Swash zone and beachface morphology showing terminology and principal processes (Modified from Masselink & Hughes 2003) The swash zone is the upper part of the beach between backbeach and surf zone, where intense erosion occurs during storms (Figure 2). The swash zone is alternately wet and dry.
The swash zone is alternately covered and exposed by wave run-up. The beach face is the sloping section below the berm that is exposed to the swash of the waves. The wrack line (not shown here) is the highest reach of the daily tide where organic and inorganic debris is deposited by wave action. May have sand dunes. [2]
The surf zone or breaker zone is the nearshore part of a body of open water between the line at which the waves break and the shore. As ocean surface waves approach a shore , they interact with the bottom, get taller and steeper , and break, forming the foamy surface called surf .
Collapsed Ordovician limestone bank showing coastal erosion.NW Osmussaar, Estonia.. Coastal geography is the study of the constantly changing region between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography (i.e. coastal geomorphology, climatology and oceanography) and the human geography (sociology and history) of the coast.
The diagram on the right shows the current state of modified and impacted coastal ecosystems and the expected state following the decade of restoration. [268] Also, shown is the uncertainty in the success of past restoration efforts, current state of altered systems, climate variability, and restoration actions that are available now or on the ...
Intertidal zones, those areas close to shore, are constantly being exposed and covered by the ocean's tides. A huge array of life lives within this zone. Shore habitats range from the upper intertidal zones to the area where land vegetation takes prominence. It can be underwater anywhere from daily to very infrequently.