essay

In the class Oceanography we learned how physical and geological characteristics are used to classify the earths dynamic coastlines. The last activity the class and i had to do involved identifying Estuaries and stating its origin classification. The activity involved many different Estuaries, so i was able to learn a lot more about these coastlines and detect what kind of Origin they were. This activity was fun and some of the classifications had shocked me.

The Shepard Coastal Classifications has many different types of coasts around the world. Each Coast has different features. The Primary Coasts use distinguished features to describe themselves, and without these listings they wouldn't have there names because it is what makes them up. The activity she gave us was to find out if they are primary or secondary. The Primary features is what had happened to the ocean. The secondary features describe more about what had happened to the ocean.  The Secondary is shaped primarily by marine agencies or by marine organisms. It may or may not have been primary coasts before being shaped by marine forces. Primary is the configuration of these coasts develops from non marine processes.The have not been significantly altered since the last rise of sea level. 

We graphed the depths from the packet for the mixture of each estuary. We had to graph the first estuary and didn't have as much salinity to begin with. Salinity is what describes how salty something is, and the depth describes how deep something is. In the salinity  versus depth profiles label A is stratified. B is partially mixed. And C is well mixed. 

Throughout this activity each Estuary classification were labeled by different types of source. Each Estuary is based on their geology and how salt water and fresh water mix in them. Each estuary takes years to be formed. In this activity we had to do research on each estuary and describe how it is classified, and why it was said to be that classification 

http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/transformations/coastal_research/estuary.html

In this activity I learned how each Estuary is made and how geology can affect it. I also have learned a lot more about coastlines and how they are determined. Also i hope to continue what we are doing so I can learn a lot more about each subject and how it is classified.