Open AccessREACH OF WAVES TO THE BED OF THE CONTINENTAL SHELF
Author(s) -
Richard Silvester,
G.R. Mogridge
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
proceedings of conference on coastal engineering/proceedings of ... conference on coastal engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2156-1028
pISSN - 0589-087X
DOI - 10.9753/icce.v12.40
Subject(s) - geology , continental shelf , submarine pipeline , terrigenous sediment , sediment transport , shore , surf zone , oceanography , nautical mile , geomorphology , sediment , seabed , continental margin , seismology , tectonics
The physiography of Continental Shelves and their major composition of sediment indicate strongly their terrigenous origin and their smoothing by wave action This premise is supported by the geologic time over which waves have existed and the mass-transport velocity in these relatively shallow depths, particularly the net movement within the wave boundary layer at the bed A given wave tram arriving obliquely to the shore can transport material along the coast, both beyond the breaker line and within the surf zone It is shown that for equal over-all discharge in the two zones, the average sediment concentration offshore close to the bed need be reasonably small, indicating that transport near the beach could be a fraction of that from the breakers to the reach of the waves This latter limit is shown to extend at least half way across the Shelf, with possibilities of greater reach when more realistic prototype conditions are introduced into experiments.