What is meant by highly stratified estuary?
Salt-wedge Estuaries They are also called highly stratified estuaries. The force of the river pushing fresh water out to sea rather than tidal currents transporting seawater upstream determines the water circulation in these estuaries. As fresh water is less dense than saltwater, it floats above the seawater.
What is the best definition for estuary?
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 and are an example of an ecotone.
What is a simple definition of estuary?
An estuary is a partially enclosed, coastal water body where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean. Estuaries, and their surrounding lands, are places of transition from land to sea.
What is turbidity maximum zone?
Definition of Turbidity maximum: Convergence zone of suspended sediment transport, where turbidity levels are high due to high suspended sediment concentrations.
What does density stratification explain?
Density stratification describes the layers of water in a body of water with a layer of cold dense water at the bottom and, at temperatures above freezing, a warmer layer floating on top. Thus, in freezing conditions, water at depth will be warmer than the surface water in contact with the covering layer of ice.
What are some threats to estuaries?
The greatest threat to estuaries is, by far, their large-scale conversion by draining, filling, damming, or dredging. These activities result in the immediate destruction and loss of estuarine habitats.
What are the 5 main types of estuaries?
Estuaries can also be classified by the circulation patterns:
- Salt Wedge: This is the simplest circulation pattern where a large, fast flowing river enters the ocean in an area where the tidal range is low to moderate.
- Well-Mixed:
- Partially Mixed:
- Fjord:
Why are estuaries highly productive?
Estuaries are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. They maintain water quality through natural filtration as microbes break down organic matter and sediments bind pollutants. Water draining from the land carries sediments, nutrients, and other pollutants.
Do estuaries have high turbidity?
Suspended sediment concentration in the estuarine turbidity maximum. The presence of a turbidity maximum is a common feature of many estuaries. The suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in the turbidity maximum can be very high, up to several g/l averaged over the water column.
What are the two types of stratified estuaries?
In common classification of estuaries (e.g., Hansen and Rattray, 1966), highly stratified estuaries are of two types: salt wedges and fjords ( Figure 1). Salt wedges are found at the mouths of rivers, in which the strength of the freshwater outflow overcomes the mixing due to the tides to maintain strong stratification conditions.
What is the salinity profile of an estuaries?
Salinities are in ppt (JR). estuaries have similar salinity profiles to vertically mixed estuaries, where salinity increases from the head to the mouth, but there is also a slight increase in salinity with depth at any point.
Which is the best definition of an estuary?
The most widely accepted definitionofanestuarywasproposedbyCameron and Pritchard (1963). According to their definition, an estuary is (a) a semien- closed and coastal body of water, (b) with free communication to the ocean, and (c) within which ocean water is diluted by freshwater derived from land.
What does it mean when a river is stratified?
Stratification A vertical gradient in salinity or density. stratified. Stratification is normally stable, that is, heavier fluid lies Salt wedge An estuary at the mouth of a river with below lighter fluid, and this stability inhibits vertical mixing.