Cobble (Cobblestone)

A rock fragment between 64 and 256 mm in diameter usually rounded.

Glossary of Terms

Step

The nearly horizontal section which more or less divides the beach from the shoreface.

A rock fragment between 64 and 256 mm in diameter usually rounded.

In regard to beach measuring procedure, the part of the foreshore subject to wave action (between the limit of uprush and the limit of backwash) at mid-tide stage.

Mean Low Water (MLW)

The average height of the low water over a 19-year period. For shorter periods of observations, corrections are applied to eliminate known variations and reduce the results to the equivalent of a mean 19-year value. All low water heights are included in the average where the type of tide is either semi-diurnal or mixed.

Shoreface

The narrow zone seaward from the low tide shoreline, covered by water, over which the beach sands and gravels actively oscillate with changing wave conditions.

Coastal Current

Those currents which flow roughly parallel to the shore and constitute a relatively uniform drift in the deeper water adjacent to the surf zone. These currents may be tidal currents, transient, wind-driven currents, or currents associated with the distribution of mass in local waters.

For navigational purposes, the term is used to designate a current in coastwise shipping lanes where the tidal current is frequently rotary.

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Cobble (Cobblestone)