60 minutes in a degree

180 degrees N to S

180 * 60 = 10,800 nautical miles

1 nautical mile = 1.151 U.S. miles

1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour 

= 1 minute of longitude per hour

12 nautical mile (19 kilometer) territorial sea

200 nautical mile EEZ from all land

EEZ = Exclusive Economic Zone

•  Established fishing, mining rights; pollution regulation

Free passage for all vessels on the high seas, within territorial seas, and through navigational straits

Deep-Ocean Mineral Resources 

(Laws of the Sea)

Regulated by International Seabed Authority

Controlled by United Nations

International Disputes

(Laws of the Sea)

Arbitrated by United Nations Law of the Sea tribunal

Law of the Sea puts 42% of world's oceans under control of coastal nations

General Characteristics

(Coastal Ocean)

• Shallow Ocean close to shore
• Coincide with continental shelf
• River runoff, tidal currents, and seasons affect water character
• about 95% of total mass of marine life

Salinity

(Coastal Ocean)

• Freshwater is less dense and overlies ocean water
• Results in a well-developed halocline
• Other Variations
• Runoff and wind current mixed -- isohaline
• Evaporative environment, saltier -- reverse halocline

Temperature 

(Coastal Ocean)

• High-latitue areas, low temperature, isohaline
• Low-latitude areas, high temperature, isohaline
• Mid-Latitude areas, seasonal thermoclines
• warmer surface water in summer
• colder surface water in winter

Coastal Geostrophic Currents 

(Coastal Ocean)

• Wind, river runoff, and Coriolis Effect
• Northern Hemisphere: current veers northward on western coast, southward on eastern coast
• High volume runoff, low salinity water flows torward ocean, pushed to right in NOrthern Hemisphere 
• ex; Davidson Current, Oregon and Washington

Estuaries 

(Coastal Ocean)

• partially enclosed coastal body
• where you have mixing of freshwater run off and ocean water
• Most commonly developed at river mouths

Coastal Plain estuary 

(Coastal Ocean)

• Drowned river valleys
• Ex: Chesapeake Bay

Fjord Estuary

(Coastal Ocean)

• Flooded, glacially carved valleys
• Ex: Norway, Southeast Alaska

Bar-built Estuary

(Coastal Ocean)

• Body of water (lagoon) separated from sea by barrier bar
• Ex: Chesapeake Bay, Laguna Madre

Tectonic Estuary

(Coastal Ocean)

• Formed by tectonic processes (faults, folding, faulting)
• Ex: San Francisco Bay

Freshwater and Seawater mixing in Estuaries

(Coastal Ocean)

• Vertically mixed
• Slightly stratified estuary 
• Highly stratified estuary
• Salt wedge estuary
• Patterns vary with location, season, tidal or river conditions
• Typically circulation pattern is low salinity toward ocean, subsurface flow of ocean water towards land

Estuaries and human activities

(Coastal Ocean)

• Important breeding and nursery gournds for many marine animals
• Humans affect estuaries negatively through industry, manufacturing, waste disposal, shipping
• Ex: Columbia River Estuary, Chesapeake Bay estuary

Estuary circulation and plankton

(Coastal Ocean)

• Phytoplankton distribution dependent on seasonal circulation patterns
• Phytoplankton and other lifeforms move seaward from estuary in late summer

• Salt marsh
• Mangroves
• Estuaries
• Deltas

• Sea level rise
• Global warming is not the same as global change
• The median sea level is rising
• Coastal wetlands may not keep up with rapid sea level rise
• Human destruction of wetlands
• Hurricane caused wetland loss

Wetlands role in pollution mitigation

• Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Salt marshes serve as nurseries for over half of the commercially important fish in the 

southeastern United States.

True or False

Mangrove swamps are protective buffer areas in temperate latitude coastal 

ecosystems.

True or False

One reason that coastal wetlands are important is that they are efficient at removing 

sediments and toxins from coastal run-off before it enters the ocean.

True or False

Estuarine circulation associated with a shallow, low-volume estuary in which river 

water mixes evenly at all depths with ocean water would be called a:

A) highly stratified estuary.

B) salt wedge estuary.

C) slightly stratified estuary.

D) tectonic estuary.

E) vertically mixed estuary.

Coastal wetlands are characterized by:

A) high levels of inorganic nutrients in the tidal zone and oxygen-rich sediments

B) high levels of organic nutrients in the tidal zone and anoxic sediments.

C) high levels of organic nutrients in the tidal zone and oxygen-rich sediments.

D) low levels of inorganic nutrients in the tidal zone and anoxic sediments.

E) low levels of organic nutrients in the tidal zone and oxygen-rich sediments

The percentage of the original area of wetlands currently left in the United States is 

approximately:

A) 10%.

B) 25%.

C) 50%.

D) 65%.

E) 75%.

Natural processes which help to remove oil spills from the ocean include all of the 

following except:

A) evaporation from the ocean surface.

B) digestion of significant amount by fish populations.

C) dispersal due to wave and wind action.

D) sinking due to aggregation into tarry lumps.

E) sinking of coated particles.

• Estuaries: 
• Formed where salt-water meets freshwater
• Flooded by the tides
• Usually at mouths of river channels 
• Made up of tidal marshes, tidal flats, and open water channels 
• Salt Marshes:Between land and open salt water that is regularly flooded by tides
• Mangroves: Tropical and sub-tropical saline tidal areas

• Where Rivers flow into a body of standing water

• Filled in and developed
• about 1/2 of wetlands in U.S. have been destroyed

Between low tide and highest elevation affected by storm waves

From shore to farthest inland ocean-related features (variable distance)

Boundary between shore and ocean

Low tide breaker line to low tide shoreline

1. Backshore: above high tide shoreline
2. Foreshore: exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide

Seaward of nearshore

Deposit of shore area 

Flat eroded surface

Dry, gently sloping region at foot of coastal cliff

Wet sloping surface from berm to shoreline

Sand bars parallel to beach

Between longshore bar and beach

• Composed of material that is locally available
• Relationship of beach slope to size of particles:
• Coarse-steep slope
• Fine - shallow slope

Mud, sand, pebbles, gravel, boulders

Muds, carbonate sands, shells

• Perpendicular to shoreline
• Swash: movement up beach from waves
• Backwash: movement away from beach from waves
• Parallel to shoreline
• Longshore current: caused when waves come into shore at an angle
• Rip Currents: concentrated backwas away from beach
• Longshore drift: longshore current transport sediment parallel to shore

Types of Shores

Erosional

Dominated by erosional features (e.g., West Coast of U.S.)

Types of Shores

Depositional Type

Dominated by depositional features (much of east coast of U.S.)