Summary
Contents
Subject index
This unique addition to reference literature provides an introduction to the major concepts and contemporary issues that are essential for students of environmental science and environmental studies to know. With over 200 entries authored by world-class names like Anthony Brazel, John Day and Edward Keller, this text is divided into six sections: Environmental Science, Environments, Paradigms & Concepts, Processes & Dynamics, Scales & Techniques, and Environmental Issues.
Estuarine Environments
Estuarine Environments
Estuaries can be very broadly defined as that portion of the Earth's coastal zone where there is interaction of ocean water, fresh water, land, and atmosphere. Large estuarine zones are most common in low-relief coastal regions, especially the broad coastal plains of Europe and the east coast of North America. They are much less common in uplifted coastlines like the Pacific edge of North and South America. Pritchard's early definition, that ‘an estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water having a free connection with the open sea and containing a measurable quantity of sea salt’, was very perceptive but is not now generally used. Instead, the later modified definition by Cameron and Pritchard, where ‘an estuary is a semi-enclosed body of ...
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