ESS 230: Rivers and Beaches

Introduction to Earth surface environments, the processes that shape them, how humans affect them and are affected by them. Weekend field trips examine mountains, rivers, deltas/estuaries, beaches, and environments beyond. Focus on linkages between these environments to illustrate coupling between landscapes and seascapes.

General Course Information

• ESS/Ocean 230 Syllabus (MS Word)

Lectures (Powerpoint files)

• Introduction 2006
• Source to Sink 2006
• Mountains: Weathering 2006
• Mountains: Soil 2006
• Mountains: Erosion 2006
• Beyond the Beach 2006
• The Floor of Puget Sound 2006
• Rivers: Materials and Sediment Transport 2006
• Marine Sedimentation 2006
• Alluvial Rivers 2006
• Bedrock Rivers 2006
• Floodplains 2006
• Channel Response 2006
• River Restoration 2006
• Estuaries and Deltas 2006
• Human Impacts on Estuaries and Deltas 2006
• Human Impacts on Rivers 2006
• Beaches: Processes 2006
• Beaches: Sedimentation 2006
• Washington Beaches 2006
• King of Fish: The Thousand-year Run of Salmon 2006
• Dirt: Erosion of Civilizations 2006

Field Trips/Labs

• Field Trip 1: Squire Creek Slide and Snohomish Delta (MS Word)
• Field Trip 2: ESS/Ocean 230 Cruise Questions (MS Word)
  • Field Trip 2 Plots:
  • Elliot Bay Station 1 plot A.PDF
  • Elliot Bay Station 1 plot B.PDF
  • Elliot Bay Station 2 plot A.PDF
  • Elliot Bay Station 2 plot B.PDF
  • Elliot Bay Station 3 plot A.PDF
  • Elliot Bay Station 3 plot B.PDF
  • Nisqually Station 1 Plot A.PDF
  • Nisqually Station 1 Plot B.PDF
  • Nisqually Station 2 Plot A.PDF
  • Nisqually Station 2 Plot B.PDF
• Field Trip 3: Raft Trip Down Cedar River (MS Word)
• Field Trip 4: Beach Trip Questions 2006 (MS Word)

Course Reserves

• Library Reserve Instructions (Powerpoint file)
• "Ocean Basins" from Oceanography, M.G. Gross, Prentice Hall (PDF)
• "River Deltas" from The Coast of Puget Sound, J.P. Downing, Puget Sound Books (PDF)
• "Sediments" from Oceanography, M.G. Gross, Prentice Hall (PDF)
• "The Estuarine Environment" from The World Ocean, W.A. Anikouchine and R.W. Sternberg, Prentice-Hall (PDF)
• "River Deltas" from Coasts, R.A. Davis, Prentice-Hall (PDF)
• "Inshore Oceanography," from The World Ocean, Anikouchine and Sternberg, Prentice-Hall (PDF)