Wave-Base, Marine Profile of Equilibrium, and Wave-Built Terraces: A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

Research Article| August 01, 1963 Wave-Base, Marine Profile of Equilibrium, and Wave-Built Terraces: A Critical Appraisal ROBERT S DIETZ ROBERT S DIETZ U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif.1 Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information ROBERT S DIETZ U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif.1 Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 03 Aug 1962 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 Copyright © 1963, The Geological Society of America, Inc. Copyright is not claimed on any material prepared by U.S. government employees within the scope of their employment. GSA Bulletin (1963) 74 (8): 971–990. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1963)74[971:WMPOEA]2.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 03 Aug 1962 First Online: 02 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation ROBERT S DIETZ; Wave-Base, Marine Profile of Equilibrium, and Wave-Built Terraces: A Critical Appraisal. GSA Bulletin 1963;; 74 (8): 971–990. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1963)74[971:WMPOEA]2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract The concept of wave-base and its corollaries, the marine profile of equilibrium and the wave-built terrace, are largely erroneous. They do not dominantly control the development of the continental shelf and slope. The treatment of these concepts in geologic textbooks and sourcebooks needs revision.Wave-base, although a useful concept if applied generally to the surficial zone of the ocean of high-ambient agitation, does not control shelf deposition as the entire shelf is above any wave-base in this sense. Instead, the shelf is a drowned and relict surface, developed by oscillation of sea level and prograding and regressing paralic sediments—and here surf plays the dominant role. Sedimentation on the continental terrace is not controlled by wave-base but chiefly by topography; the continental slope is undergoing erosion rather than prograding, and ultimate deposition occurs on the continental rise. The wave-cut terrace is not cut at wave-base but at surf-base.Wave-built terraces are nonexistent both on a small scale and on a grand scale as an explanation of the continental slope. A marine profile of equilibrium is developed in the nearshore zone and is associated with a migrating lens of sand, but the outer-shelf profile is not a profile of equilibrium. This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access. First Page Preview Close Modal You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.