Coasts Glossary
Our Nation’s coast is almost 100,000 miles and is home to more than 40% of population and supports critical habitat. USGS coastal scientists work to better understand these dynamic ecosystems to help safeguard coastal communities and conserve valuable resources. Get familiar with coasts terminology featured in our Glossary.
A
![Animation shows tides washing away brown mud from the shoreline and eroding green marshgrass. A graph follows the tide.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/media/images/FINAL-sediment.gif?h=7d23fa58&itok=L7HVYgyE)
Accretion
![People recreating on the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/banner-riverwithpeople-georgia-chattahoochee_0.jpg?itok=M6imYoNV)
Anthropogenic
B
![Coastal wetland ecosystems in Jamaica Bay, New York,](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/coastalwetlands-NY-JamaicaBay_abt-9-2018-USGS__1541268021051.jpg?itok=Q2vBUr5b)
Blue carbon
C
![Uncovering the Ecosystem Service Value of Carbon Sequestration in National Parks. Photo by Robert Crootof, NPS.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/Robert%20Crootof%2CCarbonSequestrationNPS.jpg?itok=QfXqe1m7)
Carbon sequestration
![Authigenic carbonate nodule](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/media/images/IMG_5016-authigenic-carbonate.jpg?h=dd14920d&itok=ir9YvJmE)
Carbonate
![View looks along an ice-rich permafrost bluff that is eroding muddy chunks of tundra onto a sandy beach.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/media/images/TimeLapseBarter2.jpg?h=1c13054e&itok=-LaLNi_1)
Coastal resilience
![salt marsh and mangrove trees in coastal wetland](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/P7240022_cropped.jpg?itok=VuPW-RtR)
Coastal wetlands
E
Erosion
![green marshy wetland with a cloudy sky](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/media/images/herring%20river_0.jpg?h=e5998496&itok=uHxmHCNi)
Estuaries
![Aerial photo of estuary](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/fluxtower_zoom.jpg?itok=GTvX8n2Y)
Estuary
G
![underwater features](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/osc_data_landforms.jpg?itok=1TPxha3d)
Geomorphic
![Research themes thumbnail: Oceanside beaches-dunes](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/8_CSC_ResearchThemes_OceansideBeachesDunes_thumb.jpg?itok=sz9tc8Kz)
Geomorphology
I
![illustration showing complete inundation of an island](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/scalingModel_2dunesInundation_InundateIsland_0.jpg?itok=pWYGdn3L)
Inundation
L
![Coastal bathymetry, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, mapped using lidar and depicted with false-color](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/v30-1-StThomas1__1545245524060.jpg?itok=WADfeq1H)
Lidar
O
![Dauphin Island overwash](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/breachLG_0.jpg?itok=dCzjls6R)
Overwash
P
![Green frog](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/green%20frog.jpg?itok=CfTW5doS)
Pathogen
![ice-rich permafrost](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/IceRichPermafrost.png?itok=lxuLIdU5)
Permafrost
T
![Image of a healthy river and terrestrial ecosystem inteface.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/riverbank-meadows.jpg?itok=JbIr9nO9)
Terrestrial
![Topobathymetric elevation model of New England/Cape Cod](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/neng_color2_800.png?itok=scTtHmAS)
Topobathymetric
W
![Image taken by USGS scientists on Madeira Beach, Florida, during a winter storm event.](https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/styles/list_item/public/thumbnails/image/runup-bkgr.png?itok=4gaX5-Zb)