Beach glossary
Explanation of terms
| Field Name | Definition |
|---|---|
| Barrier | The long term accumulation of marine and aeolian (wind-blown) sediments at and behind the beach, includes the beach and dunes. |
| Barrier island | A usually elongate, shore parallel barrier separated from the mainland by a lagoon and inlets. |
| Backbarrier type | The nature of the terrain behind the barrier: 0 = bedrock; 1 = lagoon; 2 = swamp. |
| Beach | Unique identifier used to join tables, not for purpose of display. |
| Beach Key | The Beach Number used to identify beaches in ABSAMP. |
| Beach plus ridged sand flats | Intertidal surface has shore parallel, possibly sinuous, low (<10 cm), equally spaced (~80 m), sand ridges. |
| Beach plus sand flat | Intertidal surface is essentially flat and featureless apart from small ripples & drainage. |
| Beach plus tidal flats | Intertidal surface is imprinted with tidal channel drainage and channels and may be composed of sand and/or mud. |
| Beach state | refers to the state of the beach within each beach type as defined by the dimensionless fall velocity (omega=Hb/WsT) there are six wave dominated beaches (D, LBT, RBB, TBR, LTT & R) three tide modified beaches (R+LTT, R+LTR (rips), UD) Four tide-dominated beaches: (R+RSF, R+SF, R+TSF, R+TMF) two beaches fronted by rock/reef flats (R+rock flats, R+reef flats). |
| Beach state type | 1 = Primary refers to the dominant beach state along the beach; 2 = Secondary refers to the secondary beach type along part of the beach, which may or may not be present; 0 = outer refers to an outer bar (if present) the beach state always refers to the inner bar (by default). |
| Beach type | refers to the four types of beaches: wave-dominated, tide-modified and tide-dominate beaches as defined by the relative tide range (RTR=TR/Hb) together with beaches fronted by rock/reef flats. |
| Bedrock reef | Intertidal bedrock reef located in front of beach. |
| BSC Code | Beach State / Beach Type code. |
| BSC Desc | Description of Beach State / Beach Type |
| Carbonate content | Percentage of sediment composed of calcium carbonate, usually shell and/or coral fragments. |
| Coral Reef | Intertidal coral reef located in front of beach. |
| Details | General comments of the feature on this beach. |
| Drainage | Refers to any well-defined watercourse across or adjacent to the beach. May be a freshwater stream, tidal creek, inlet or river. |
| Drainage location | At what location does the drainage cross the beach: 1 = north (end of beach); 2 = east; 3 = south; 4 = west; 5 = centre. |
| Drainage type | 1 = tidal creek; 2 = upland stream; 3 = river. |
| Embaymentisation | The chord of the beach divided by the arc. A measure of beach exposure. |
| Estuary maturity | Degree of infilling of estuary based type of estuary based on Roy 1984 classification: 1 = immature - largely open water; 2 = semi-mature - 50% infilled; 3 = mature - largely infilled with sediment. |
| Estuary type | Type of estuary based on Roy 1984 classification: 1 = drowned river valley; 2 = barrier estuary; 3 = saline coastal lagoon. |
| Features | List of features for this beach. |
| High Tide | If true, then beach_state occurs at high tide If false, then beach_state occurs at low tide. |
| Holocene | The extent of Holocene barrier deposits in hectares (usually dunes). |
| Inlet mouth | Stability of inlet: 1 = always open; 2 = opens and closes; 3 = usually closed. |
| (Inlet) Trained | Does the inlet have any entrance structures, such as training walls? (yes/no). |
| Inner Bar | If true beach state applies to inner bar If false beach state applies to outer bar. |
| Key | Unique key for user identification - not for display purpose. |
| Length | Measurement of the Beach Length (km). |
| Location | Location of feature on or relative to the beach. |
| Mean (diameter) | Mean diameter of the beach sediment (mm). |
| Mean Bars | The mean number of sandbars which form along the beach. |
| Mean fall velocity | Mean velocity of the beach sediment as it falls through water (m/sec). |
| Mean sea level | The mean sea level will normally be midway between the high and low elevations. |
| Mode 1 | Mode or most frequently occurring sediment size (mm). |
| Mode 2 | Second most frequently occurring sediment size (mm). |
| Neap tide | Height of neap tide in metres. |
| Neap tide range | The neap range is the difference between the neap high and neap low. |
| Orientation | The orientation of the barrier in degrees. ie: the direction the barrier faces. |
| Pleistocene | The extent of Pleistocene barrier deposits in hectares (usually dunes). |
| Rip number | Number of rip channels usually present along the beach. |
| Rip spacing | Average spacing of rip channels (in metres) usually present along the beach. |
| Sand flats | Intertidal sand flats located between base of beach and low tide. |
| Sand flat composition | Sand flat - composed of sand; mud flat – composed of mud. |
| Skewness | Measures the deviation or asymmetry of the distribution. Positive skewness represents a fine tail to the distribution, negative a coarse tail, ranges from +1 to -1. |
| Sorting | A measure of dispersion or scatter, and is an expression of the standard deviation of the size distribution; ranges from very well sorted (<0.35, narrow distribution) to extremely poorly sorted (>4, wide distribution). |
| Spring tide | Height of spring tide in metres. |
| Spring tide range | The spring tide range is the amplitude between the highest & lowest. ie difference between the mean spring high water and mean spring low water. |
| State | Australian state where beach is located. |
| Std Var | Standard deviation of beach state. |
| Tide station | Nearest standard tide station to a beach. |
| Type Attid | ID of feature type attribute. |
| Wave Height | The mean breaker wave height at the beach (m). |
| Wave Period | The mean wave period at the beach (sec). |
| Wetland area | Area in hectares of the lagoon or wetland (freshwater swamp or saltwater marsh) behind the beach. |
Author
Andrew Short - University of Sydney
