The Keys To Unlocking Transitions In Water
Beginning of paper
When examining waters transition from fresh to salt as well as from salt
to fresh one quickly finds the importance of estuaries. In terms of geology,
present-day estuaries are young and ephemeral coastal features. Today's
estuaries began to take their current form during the last interglacial per ....
Middle of paper
.... encounters
the oceans. Because fresh water is lighter, or less dense, than salt water,
unless the two are mixed by the tides or winds, the fresh water remains at the
surface, resulting in a salinity gradient. Tides force seawater inland as a
countercurrent and produce a saltwater wedge below the freshwater surface waters
(Bellamy 62).
Estuaries are always in a state of change and hardly ever in a steady
state. The principal energy source are tides, causing estuarine mixing, but wind,
wave ....
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Word count: 419
Page count: 2 (approximately 250 words per page)
