Oceans and Coasts

Earth’s Oceans:
 Oceans cover 70.8% of the planet – world ocean dominates the globe
 Oceans are the basis for life on Earth = life began in oceans
o Hosted ALL live on Earth for 3 Billion years
 Oceans regulate energy and climate
o Thermal capacity is so huge – lots of energy in ocean + regulate our
climate
 Oceans recycle mass – through erosion, subduction
 Around 60% of humans live near coasts
 Tectonic processes constantly change the configuration of the continents and
ocean basins
 The Pacific covers almost half the planet
 Arctic region: ocean covered by a thin coating of ice
 Antarctic region: continent covered by an ice cap.

Introduction:
 First ocean science expedition, from 1872 to 1876.
 Gathered data at 362 oceanographic stations
 Recorded data on temperature, currents, water chemistry, and ocean floor
deposits
 Humans have explored the ocean for tens of centuries, yet our knowledge of the
depths, until recently, has been very limited
 Challenger made the first ocean research cruise
o collected information on water depths, biota, geology, and water
chemistry.

Deep Sea Exploration:

 Since the 1950s, new manned submersibles greatly expanded our ability to
collect data on the oceans.
 1960 Challenger Deep to 10,915 m depth in Mariana Trench
o Mariana Trench = subduction zone
 Oceanic crust is subducted underneath continental crust
 Alvin goes regularly down to pressures of 250 atmospheres (2500 m depth)
  Autonomous submersibles and satellites have improved remote sensing of the
oceans.
o Sea level, temperature, chemistry
Ocean Networks Canada:
 Earthquake monitoring
 Abyssal ecosystems
 Methane and gas hydrates
 Ocean chemistry
 Monitoring off of Vancouver Island
Landscapes Beneath the Sea:
 Aleutian trench, South of Alaska
 A seismic reflection profile shows the structure of an accretionary prism and
sediment layers of the Pacific floor
 The colored stripes are sediment layers, and the black lines are faults.

 Oceans exist because of differences in lithosphere

o Continental lithosphere “floats higher” on the mantle
 Less dense = silica and aluminum – relatively light
o Oceanic lithosphere “floats deeper” in the mantle
o Ocean basins collect water because they are lower.

Continental Margins:
 2 types: Passive or Dynamic (Active)
 The formation of a passive-margin basin (PMB)
 Active Continental Margin:
o Marianna’s Trench – deepest point on Earth – 10,994 km
o Active margins border the Caribbean and the western coast of South
America.
 Passive Margin: Continental Shelves and Slopes
o The top surface of the PMB is the continental shelf.
o The sea floor exhibits highly varied bathymetry
o Passive margins occur on both sides of the Atlantic.
o 3 parts: Shelf, slope, rise
 Continental shelf—shallow (0 to 500 m), gently sloping (0.3 o).
 Continental slope—descends from >200 m to about 4 km at an
angle of ~4o
 Lots of erosional channels under water + sediments shelf off
o Submarine landslides like
 Why so much sediment on continental shelf?
 Continental rise—transition zone from 4 to 4.5 km.

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 o Abyssal plain—flat, low-relief bottom below 4.5 km.

Abyssal Plains:
 Sediment is thicker on the older lithosphere, having had more time to accumulate
 The thinnest sediment covers the newest crust near the mid-ocean ridge axis.
 Abyssal plain strata are horizontally bedded
 The surface of the abyssal plain is muddy with sparse organism
 Mapping of the seafloor shows a fracture zone linking two segments of a mid-
ocean ridge.

Ocean Water: Composition:

 Salinity - salts dissolved in water
o (Na+ ~30%, Cl- ~55%)
 Salinity - usually measured ppt
 Average ocean salinity: 35 ppt*
o River water salinity: 0.5 ppt often less
o *35 grams of salt /1000 grams of seawater
 Salinity changes with depth, governed by latitude-related evaporation vs.
freshwater input
 Regional variations in salinity reflect differences in freshwater addition vs.
elevated rates of evaporation.
 Rivers bring calcium, potassium, sulfate, magnesium which compose sea salts,
back into ocean

Ocean Water: Temperature:

 Temperature changes with depth equilibrate more rapidly than salinity changes
with depth
 Oceanic bottom waters are close to the freezing point of freshwater
 Regional variations in sea surface temperature are clearly linked to the
temperature variation between the tropics and the poles.
 Warmer in equator and colder near poles

Thermohaline Circulation:
 Thermohaline circulation results in a global-scale conveyor belt that circulates
water throughout the entire ocean system
 Because of this circulation, the ocean mixes entirely in a 1,500-year period
 Gulf Stream = body of warm water that flows north
o Goes north and cools (heating England, Norway etc.)

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  Evaporates and becomes more saline = denser and thus sinks
 Shallow current (warm and less salty + less dense)
 Deep current (cold and salt + denser)
Coriolis Effect:
 Rotation deflects prevailing winds and currents
 The sense of deflection depends upon the initial direction of motion and the
position relative to the equator
 Northern hemisphere:
 A projectile shot from the North Pole to the equator deflects to the west.
o Winds and currents moving north to south are likewise deflected west
 A projectile shot from the equator to the North Pole deflects to the east
o Winds and currents moving from south to north are likewise deflected to
the east
 In the southern hemisphere, the response is a mirror image
o North-moving winds and currents are deflected to the west
o South-moving winds and currents are deflected to the east.
 The Coriolis effect occurs because the velocity of a point at the equator, in the
direction of the Earth’s spin, is greater than that of a point near the pole
 Due to the Coriolis effect, currents deflect clockwise, relative to the wind in the
northern hemisphere
 Currents spiral by Coriolis deflection into large gyres.
 Angular velocity = earth is turning and every point on earth turns same number of
degrees (radian)
o But circle it is turning at north is smaller than circle turning at equator
o Wind or parcel of water at equator moves faster (higher angular velocity)
than the north pole
 North Hemisphere = High to low angular velocity and veer off to
the right (west to east) – clockwise

Upwelling:

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  A longshore wind (parallel to coast) pushes water away from the shore in the
northern hemisphere due to the Coriolis effect. This pulls water up from the
depths—upwelling.
 Northern hemisphere northerly winds on the west coast drives upwelling of
nutrient-rich bottom waters
o Upwelling coastal margins have high rates of biological productivity
o Brings up iron, algae + key nutrients
 The reverse (downwelling) occurs when the wind direction is opposite
o An offshore wind pushes water away from the shore
o Loss source of nutrient rich waters
 The water must be replaced, and it is, by water pulled up from the depths—
upwelling
 Northerly winds produce an offshore Ekman transport, which drives upwelling of
nutrient-rich bottom waters
 Upwelling coastal margins have high rates of biological productivity.
Downwelling:
 Due to variations in density, derived from differences in temperature and salinity,
the oceans are stratified into distinct water masses.
El Nino:
 Lots of heating in western pacific basin
 As it heats up = slowly shifts + water migrates east-ward and change the air
circulation pattern and brings heat to central west coast

Tides:
 A broad tidal flat is exposed at low tide around Mont-Saint-Michel, on the coast of
France
 This large tidal bore, entering the mouth of a river along the coast of China, is a
tourist attraction.
 Ex: Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia = Largest tides in the world.
o 3.5 m to 16 m
 The larger (sublunar) tidal bulge always faces the Moon
 The smaller tidal bulge is always on the opposite side of the Earth from the
sublunar bulge
 Viewed from the side, the sublunar bulge does not align with the equator
 How tides form:
o 1) Lunar effect
 Greater effect bc body that is closer to us
 Pulling the water envelope in gravitational pull and cause bulge
 Impact on shallow and adjacent to large body of water

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  High tides = shift of small movement in body of water causes huge
impact on shallow area without volume to accommodate it
o 2) Solar effect
Spring and Neap Tides:
 The gravitational pull of the Sun adds to, or subtracts from, the lunar pull
 When the Sun is aligned with the Moon, stronger, higher tides result
o These are called spring tides
 When the Sun is at right angles to the Moon, weaker, lower tides result
o These are called neap tides
 When sun + new moon work together (same side of earth) = compound effect
o Solar ride + lunar ride works together = spring tides
o (extra high tides = spring tides)
 Sun + moon work against each other = low tides = neap tides

Waves:
 Ocean waves build in response to the
shear of wind blowing over the water
surface
 Higher-energy wind yields higher-energy
waves
 Within a passing wave, water follows a
circular path
 The circle radius decreases with depth
 At a depth of one-half the wavelength,
the circular motion ceases: this is wave
base.

Longshore Currents:
 Wave refraction occurs when waves approach the shore at an oblique angle.
 Oblique wave attack creates a longshore current that moves sand laterally as
longshore drift (or beach drift).
 Longshore drift moves sand grains along the shoreline in a zigzag path.

Coastal Landforms:
 Coasts, the belts of land bordering the sea, vary dramatically in terms of
topography and associated landforms around the globe.

Wave-Cut Notches and Benches:

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  Wave attack along rocky coasts results in shattering, wedging, and abrading of
the cliff, resulting in erosional removal of material and undercutting to form a
wave-cut notch
 Sea level remains at same elevation for certain period of time = erosion
Gravel Beaches:
 Gravel beaches reflect an energetic wave attack and an abundant supply of local
bedrock
 Muds are sparse as turbulence suspends fines and removes them to lower-
energy environments offshore.
Sand Beaches and Tidal Flats:
 The beach comprises many different sub-environments, which occur in distinct
zones
 The foreshore or intertidal zone is the region between high and low tide
 The beach face is steep, and concave formed by wave swash
 The backshore is the upper beach above high tide
 They may have storm berms.
 West coast of North America = largely sand sediments
o Builds up islands
Longshore Currents:
 Swash carries sand obliquely up the beach, whereas backwash carries it straight
downslope
 So sand grains follow a sawtooth pattern, yielding longshore drift. A longshore
current develops offshore.

Coastal Landforms:
 A) Barrier Islands:
o Waves sculpt sand into elongate offshore bars parallel to the shoreline
o In regions with abundant sand, offshore bars can rise above sea level to
become barrier islands
o Barrier islands protect a shallow, quiet-water lagoon that accumulates
mud.
 B) Sand Spits:
o Bringing in sand
 C) Estuaries:
o River valleys that are flooded by sea-level rise are called estuaries
o They develop as river canyons that cut into the continental shelves during
glacial sea-level lowstands.
 D) Fjords:
o Fjords are glacier valleys that are flooded by sea-level rise

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 o They characterize mountainous coastlines that hosted valley glaciers
(B.C. Coast, Norway)

Tides- Intertidal Zone:

 Tides ebb and flow twice a day
 Inhabited by a variety of both plants and animals, including star fish and
anemones.
 Predation from above and risk of drying out.

Tidal Flats:
 Tidal flats are intertidal regions that accumulate mud and silt to form thick, sticky
mud deposits
 Tidal flats display bioturbation, abundant sediment reworking by burrowing
organisms.

Organic Coasts:
 A) Coastal Reefs:
o Organic coasts are those in which living organisms control landforms
along the shore
o Coral reefs grow in tropical marine settings at shallow depth and create
large rocky structures of cemented skeletons
o Coral reefs are among the most biologically productive ecosystems.
 B) Coastal Wetlands and Mangroves:
o Organic coasts are those in which living organisms control landforms
along the shore
o Vegetation in coastal wetlands are controlled by climate.
o Coastal wetlands develop in vegetated flat-lying stretches of coastline that
are flooded by tides but do not see strong waves.
o In temperate settings, they are colonized by trees, grasses, or mosses.
o Mangroves dominate in tropical settings.
o Coastal wetlands fuel high biological productivities.
 C) Lagoons and Atolls:
o Organic coasts are those in which living organisms control landforms
along the shore
o Coral reefs grow in tropical marine settings and create large rocky
structures of cemented skeletons
o Coral reefs are among the most biologically productive ecosystems.

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Sea Level Changes:
 Isostatic: equilibrium that exists between parts of the earth's crust
o – local sea level change
o Isostatic depression of earth’s crust
o is the sinking of large parts of the Earth's crust into the asthenosphere.
The sinking is caused by a heavy weight placed on the Earth's surface.
Often this is caused by the heavy weight of glacial ice due to continental
glaciation.
 Eustatic: worldwide change of sea level
o the distance from the center of the earth to the sea surface. An increase of
the eustatic sea level can be generated by decreasing glaciation,
increasing spreading rates of the mid-ocean ridges or more mid-oceanic
ridges
 Fluctuations in sea level
o Glacial melting
o Coastal uplift or subsidence
o Thermosteric expansion of the ocean water mass
 Fluctuations in global sea level
o Glacial meting
o Thermosteric expansion of the ocean water mass

Emergent Coastline:
 Emergent coasts are characterized by river incision, cliffs, wave-cut notches, and
platforms
 Emergent coasts experience relative sea-level fall
 Coastal terraces form as the land emerges from the sea.

Submergent Coastline:
 Submergent coasts are characterized by flooding of river valleys or glacial
troughs to form estuaries and fjords.
 Submergent coasts experience relative sea-level rise.

Beach Destruction and Protection:

 Storms (especially hurricanes) radically alter shorelines
 Human development in coastal settings are often affected
 Construction in coastal settings is increasingly regulated.

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Coastal Stabilization Techniques:
 Groins, jetties, and breakwaters arrest sediment transport
 Usually this produces unintended consequences
 Sediment deposition is enhanced in one place
 Sediment erosion ist accelerated in another.

Sea Walls:
 A concrete or rock seawall can hasten erosion in extreme storms
 Wave energy is concentrated, and erosion is enhanced at the base of the wall
 Seawalls can then fail.

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