Descriptionary

spiller a wave with a concave back and a crest that breaks gradually and continuously, most often seen offshore.

spindrift sea spray.

spit a narrow point of land extending into the water.

spring tide the highest and lowest tide occurring at new and full Moon and reinforced by the alignment with the Sun.

stack a small island of rock isolated from land and set apart from the head of a promontory.

strait any narrow channel connecting two larger bodies of water.

strand a beach or shoreline.

swash a wave's shallow sweep up a beach; a reced­ing swash is also known as backwash.

swashmarks long, interlacing ripples and strands of marine debris left by a receding swash.

tide the rise and fall of the sea due to the gravita­tional pull of the Sun and Moon.

tideland any land that is submerged at high tide.

tidemark any human-made or organic mark that indicates the sea's highest point during high tide.

tide pool a small body of seawater—varying from the size of a bathtub to that of a swimming pool—left behind by a withdrawing tide, and frequently teeming with marine life.

tidewater water that floods tideland at high tide.

tombolo a sand bar connecting an island to the mainland or two islands together.

train a series of waves of the same or nearly the same size.

trough the depression or hollow between waves.

wrack any marine vegetation washed to shore; also, the wreckage of a ship cast ashore.

CAVES

angel's hair the delicate needles of gypsum found growing in some caves.

breakdown a pile of rocks in a passage resulting from the collapse of a wall or ceiling.

breathing cave a cave passage in which airstreams can be felt moving in two different directions, as in respiration.

calcite calcium carbonate mineral, frequently white and mixing with water and other minerals to form stalactites, stalagmites, and other cave encrustations.

canyon any cave passage that is at least twice as high as it is wide.

cave pearl a flowerlike mineral formation made largely of calcite; also known as a pisolith.

caver a spelunker.

ceiling pocket a small dome formation on the ceil­ing of a cave.

chimney a narrow, vertical shaft. Also, the term used to describe the method of climbing a vertical shaft.

claustrophobia the fear of enclosed places.

column formation created by the joining of a stalac­tite with a stalagmite.

conduit a subterranean passage through which water flows or has flowed in the past.

crawl speleological term for any crawl space.

crouchway any passage that can be gotten through only by crouching or stooping.

dome a large, oval opening in the ceiling of a cave passage, closed at the top.

domepit a circular shaft in the floor of a cave, usu­ally consisting of limestone or other soluble rock that has worn away.

dripstone collective term for any stalactite, stalag­mite, or other formation created by dripping water and minerals.

flowstone calcium carbonate deposit forming sheets, drapery, and coatings over rocks.

fluting vertical striations in cave walls.

gallery a large chamber or hall.

glaciere a cave in a glacier.

glaciospeleology the study of glacier caves.

gour a small basin or pool of clear water edged with calcite encrustations.

grape a calcium carbonate deposit with the appear­ance of a grape or tea, encrusted on a cave wall.

gypsum a white or colorless mineral deposited in caves as calcium sulfate and forming flowers, needles, cotton balls, and other shapes.

karst an area of land characterized by numerous sinkholes and caves, formed by eroded limestone.

knee crawler knee pad used by spelunkers in crawl spaces.

lava tube cave a conduit or passage through which lava once flowed.

limestone sedimentary rock consisting largely of calcium carbonate. Most caves are limestone forma­tions carved out by water.

master cave the main or largest cave in a group.

moon milk a white, puttylike form of flowstone.

pinched out a narrowing passage that becomes impenetrable. Also known as a pinch.

pitch a vertical shaft.

ponor the point where a stream disappears under a shelf of rock.

pothole any cave system where vertical shafts pre­dominate.

sink a rounded depression often containing water.

sinkhole a hole, depression, or basin formed on the surface of karst land through which water drains underground.

sinkhole entrance access to a cave through a sinkhole.

soda straw a tiny stalactite in the shape of a soda straw.

speleology the study of caves.

spelunker one who studies or explores caves.

stalactite a long, tapering formation hanging from the roof of caves, formed by dripping water, calcium carbonate, and other minerals.