An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean. Estuaries make great tourist attractions or harbors and ports. River flow creates the stable vertical stratification. Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water that usually form where rivers meet the sea. It is the only great lakestype freshwater estuary in the national estuarine research reserve. It is shown that the zooplankton communities in the open vistula bay and closed curonina bay types of estuaries differ in the species structures, numbers, biomasses, and functioning. Water continually circulate s into and out of an estuary.
The defining feature of an estuary is the mixing of fresh and salt. Estuaries provide vital nursery and spawning grounds for numerous fish and invertebrates, including a significant proportion of commercially harvested species. Estuaries unique environment makes them a busy location for human and animal interaction. Estuaries support an abundance of life and a diversity of habitat types.
In saltwater estuaries, salinity and conductivity levels are generally highest near the mouth of a river where ocean materials students need to work in a computer lab or with a computer and projector copy of student reading 1. These areas are home to an immense amount of biological productivity and diversity. The list is in order from east border with mozambique to the west border with namibia the south african coastline stretches for some 3000 km from kosi bay near the mozambique border in the east to the gariep orange river at the namibian border in the west. An estuary is where the ocean meets a river in a semienclosed area. Types tectonic estuaries are caused by the folding or faulting of land surfaces. The late donald pritchard defined an estuary as a semienclosed coastal body of water which has free connection with the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage. Clearly, the above two types of estuaries, with their differing. They all have a semienclosed body of water that has a free connection to the open sea, and. A tale of three estuaries copy of student reading 2. If you need to print pages from this book, we recommend downloading it as a pdf. By studying the structure of estuaries, scientists have classified four main types of estuaries, as well as four main estuarine. Have each student group present an oral summary of their analyses and inferences based on steps 7 and 8 on the worksheet. From here you can find out about different kinds of estuaries, where they are located, their key physical properties and how to use this information with coastal explorer. Habitats associated with estuaries, such as salt marshes and mangrove forests, act like enormous filters.
The cradle of the ocean is an appropriate description of estuaries. The five major types of estuaries classified by their geology are coastal plain, barbuilt, deltas, tectonic and fjords. Ecology of inland waters and estuaries download ebook pdf. Wetlands connected with this environment are known as estuarine wetlands. Other types of estuaries occasionally found in the literature can always be grouped with one of the types discussed above. As many types of contaminants particularly metals such as arsenic, mercury, copper, lead and zinc bind to. Click download or read online button to get ecology of inland waters and estuaries book now.
Estuary simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Most organisms live where the ocean is shallow from the shoreline to the continental shelf because. Estuaries are interconnected with the world ocean and with major systems and cycles on earth. The epa national estuary program nep is a unique and voluntary program. Estuaries and the lands surrounding are places of transition from land to sea or fresh water to salt water. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Estuaries are physically and chemically dynamic and complex ecosystems. Estuaries can further be classified into the following three types. Estuary types are a way of classifying new zealands coastal waters based on the estuary environment classification eec system. Estuaries tend to be rich in nutrients and productivity due to the trapping of nutrients and sediments. The intermittent estuary is characterised by the temporary disappearance of the thermohaline forcing and, as a consequence, changes more or less regularly from an estuary to an oceanic embayment and back. In estuaries, the salty ocean mixes with a freshwater river, resulting in brackish water. Well mixed estuaries river flows slowly into the ocean where the tidal range is high.
Teacher guidephysical science module activity 1 chemistry. More than 95% of floridas recreationally and commercially important. Exploring estuaries has been developed using the water learn it. Students are introduced to watershed, river basin, and estuaries using a visually enriched infographics. The water has a mix of the saltwater tides coming in from the ocean and the freshwater from the river. The video discusses an estuary is, the types of estuaries, and why students should care about estuaries. There are five major types of estuaries that are classified based on their geologic. In fact, most estuaries are less than 10,000 years old levinton, 1995. Browse estuaries resources on teachers pay teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources. Types of estuaries there are four different kinds of estuaries, each created a different way. They include tidal marshes, salt marshes, mangrove swamps, river deltas and mudflats. Surrounded by millions of people and subject to many uses, including incomeproducing commerce, the nynj harbor estuary is a. Produced by corangamite cma and estuarywatch victoria. The deep waters of these estuaries usually remain undisturbed as the sills or submerged reefs between the sea and the estuary prevents the free flow of water at greater depths.
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Pdf ecosystem and biotic classifications of estuaries and coasts. Estuaries are more common on coasts with wide and shallow continental shelves than on coasts close to tectonic plate boundaries. The four main types include barbuilt, coastal plain, tectonic esturary, and fjord type estuary. Mar 20, 2009 it is shown that the zooplankton communities in the open vistula bay and closed curonina bay types of estuaries differ in the species structures, numbers, biomasses, and functioning. A successful ecosystembased management program, it works to restore and maintain the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance. Urbanindustrial estuaries nynj harbor estuary, upper delaware bay are estuaries that support intense human use. During heavy storms, however, the deep waters of the fjord type estuary might be displaced. Estuaries is a comprehensive introductory text emphasizing the physical processes involved in the mixing of sea and river water and the transport of fine sediments within the complex estuarine topographic context.
Coastal plain estuaries 1 are created when sea levels rise and fill in an existing river valley. Humans benefit from the beauty of estuaries and the food and resources they provide. The similarity of the zooplankton communities of these estuaries has to do with the commonness of their trophic structure. Pdf estuaries are coastal areas where the saline waters of the.
Aug 31, 2014 types tectonic estuaries are caused by the folding or faulting of land surfaces. Media in category estuaries the following 52 files are in this category, out of 52 total. The seas are classified as interior inland, marginal, or interinsular according to their geographic position and degree of isolation. The brackish water found in an estuary is a mixture of fresh water that drains from the land through watersheds and salty sea water. Aquatic ecosystems are of two types as open sea and coastal zone ecosystems. When slabs of freefloating ice make contact with the shore, they have a scouring. Fjords dug out by advancing glaciers, form when glacier retreats glacier bay alaska tectonic movements along fault lines. Barbuilt estuaries form when a shallow lagoon or bay is protected from the ocean by a sand bar or barrier island. Another role played by saline water in an estuary involves flocculation of particles. Flocculation is the process of particles aggre gating into larger clumps. Oceans have many types of ecosystems depending on the conditions sunlight, temperature, depth, salinity of that part of the ocean. The features considered in this paper to be true estuaries are divided into restricted entrance and unrestricted entrance types on the grounds that the size and geometry of the. Students should understand that a defining characteristic of all estuaries is variable salinity, and that this charac.
Generally, there are two common types of estuary, barbuilt and riverine. An estuary may also be called a bay, lagoon, sound, or slough. Marsh grasses, algae, and other kinds of plants live in estuaries and provide food for a variety of fish, crabs, oysters, and shrimp. The marine or lower estuary that has a free connection to the sea with. In geologic time, which is often measured on scales of hundreds of thousands to millions of years, estuaries are often fleeting features of the landscape. Estuaries can be classified based on their geographical features. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. Annual, seasonal, and daily fluctuations in freshwater input, tidal inundation, temperature, wind, and other hydrological and meteorological.
Montrose basin and the ythan estuary are small east coast estuaries but the solway accounts for 30% of the total area of estuaries in scotland. Definition and classification of estuaries request pdf. Although estuaries are influenced greatly by tides, they are protected by land forms from the full power of ocean waves, winds and storms. Types and properties of water encyclopedia of life support. The mix of fresh and saltwater makes a great feeding ground and habitat for many types of wildlife epa. An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments known as ecotone. The four basic types of estuaries are 1 the salt wedge estuary, 2 the partially mixed or slightly stratified estuary, 3 the vertically homogeneous or vertically mixed estuary, and 4 the fjord or highly stratified estuary. Brackish water is somewhat salty, but not as salty as the ocean. Pdf estuaries are coastal areas where the saline waters of the ocean meet with fresh water from streams and rivers. Classification, mixing, and coastal biogeochemistry part i. Kirk cochran, in reference module in earth systems and environmental sciences, 2014.
1029 822 237 1555 98 455 1507 720 683 999 758 786 239 618 1559 1559 626 860 1202 860 210 770 901 296 1193 633 876 1236 67 797 1385 293 1139 1067 858 1328 460 892 390 1022 1138 938 724 671 1082 1275 332