Contamination

An anthropogenic increase in the concentration of a substance in the marine environment.

Glossary of Terms

A coral-algal mound or ridge of in-place coral colonies and skeletal fragments, carbonate sand, and organically-secreted calcium carbonate. A coral reef is built up around a wave-resistant framework, usually of older coral colonies.

Extensive limestone structures built largely by corals. They occur primarily in shallow tropical and provide habitat for a large variety of other marine life forms.

Wetlands

Lands whose saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities that live in the soil and on its surface (e.g. Mangrove forests).

Endemic Species

Species native to and restricted to specific geographic areas.

Coastline

The line that forms the boundary between the coast and the shore. Commonly referred to as the line that forms the boundary between the land and the water (especially the water of a sea or ocean, also called the shoreline).

Erosion

The loss of sediment, sometimes indicated by the landward retreat of a shoreline indicator such as the water line, the berm crest, or the vegetation line.

Aquifer

Permeable geological formation through which groundwater can flow and from which groundwater can be readily extracted. (See also Groundwater).

Search form

You are here

Contamination