Glossary

Structural element of a bulkhead, fixed horizontally between the vertical piles on the seaward side and the sheet piles on the landward side.

The elevation of the free water surface of a body of water above or below any datum. Mean water level is the average water elevation at a particular place and time.

The top of the saturated zone in soil or rock.

A natural or man-made channel that conveys water.

The land area that drains to a particular point or area in the landscape (i.e., to a pond, lake, river, etc.); the area drained by a given stream.

Originally meaning a structure built of woven branches, now sometimes used interchangeably with fascine.

The distance between successive inflection points, or other corresponding parts, in a series of meander bends.

Opening left in a revetment or bulkhead to allow groundwater drainage.

Grassland with waterlogged soil near the surface and open, standing water absent for most of the year. Woody plants are few or entirely absent.

Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions; wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

The length of the wetted contact between a stream of flowing water and the stream boundary, measured in a vertical plane at right angles to the direction of flow.

The ratio of bankfull surface width divided by the bankfull depth.

Check Dams: Woven Willow Check Dams are constructed from live, usually indigenous, willow material to control gully erosion. Woven willow check dams are usually constructed in channel bottoms of gullies that receive ephemeral or intermittent stream flow.

Woven bundles of woody branches typically from a species that is very rootable. This bundle is placed along the contour of a slope or streambank in order to reduce the length of the slope and provide vegetation as a buffer zone. They commonly have wood or live stakes to anchor the wattle in place.

The end portion of a bulkhead, seawall or revetment that cuts back in toward the bank, usually at a right angle to the main structure. The purpose of a wingwall is to help retard or prevent flanking.