Resources: Sea Turtle Glossary

arribadas - An aggregation of female sea turtles exiting the ocean together to nest at the same time and the same place.

backbeach - The area lying between the high tide line and the storm high tide line [Often called the back part of the beach].

beach - The area of sand between the sea and the land exposed between high and low tides.

beach, active - The upper layers of recently deposited beach sediment characterized by discrete sedimentary structures consisting of laminated sands and open and filled burrows, and often with one or more discrete heavy mineral layers marking the bottom of the active sorting zone.

beach, inactive - The lower layers of oxidized (light brown) beach sediment which were deposited in past times characterized by diffuse sedimentary structures consisting of ghosty laminated textures, filled and open burrows, and often topped by a horizon separating rooted sediment below from the active beach sediment above.

bluff - a high erosional cliff, larger than a scarp, formed by erosion of a high standing dune or island core.

body pit - the wallowed-out depression made by a sea turtle to reach damp sand that will hold vertical walls of the egg chamber.

clutch - The mass of eggs deposited by a single nesting event of a sea turtle; averaging approximately 113 eggs.

covering pit - Elliptical area of disturbed surficial sand disrupted and stirred up by female sea turtle after nesting to disguise the position of body pit and egg chamber.

crawlway - Linear markings on the beach made by a sea turtle as it crawls across the beach attempting to nest; comprised of a medial plastron drag flanked on either side by flipper marks.

egg chamber - Bulb-shaped pit dug by sea turtle into damp sand beneath body pit into which eggs are deposited during nesting.

endangered species (Federal) - any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

extinct - The disappearance of a species from the world.

Guale Island - an ancient northern part of St. Catherines Island that formed a separate island north and east of modern St. Catherines Island during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene.

heavy mineral(s) - sand sized sediment comprised of high density mineral grains sorted and concentrated by wave activity consisting of minerals such as rutile, ilmenite, apatite, hornblende, garnet, and leucoxene.

monitoring - The daily activity of examining the beach for stranded animals, new nests, and each nest for significant changes such as predatory activity, erosion, or deposition.

neap tide - Exceptionally low tidal ranges which coincide with half moons, the high tide is lower than "normal" and the low tide is higher than "normal."

nest - The area of beach disturbed by behavioral activities involved in the activities involved in depositing eggs; including entrance and exit crawlways, body pit, egg chamber, and covering pit.

relict mud - Ancient mud layers which are being exposed by modern erosion on the beach; Often deposited in the past in seaside marshes and/or interdune swales when the beach was positioned further to the seaward side of the island.

sand - sediment which is coarser than 1/16 mm and finer than 2 mm in size, a sediment size range normally visible to the naked eye.

scarp - A small escarpment or cliff-like face formed by erosion of high standing areas on the back beach.

spring tide - Exceptionally high tidal ranges which coincides with Full and New moons, high tides are higher than "normal" and low tides are lower than "normal."

threatened species - any species likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Through regulations, the U.S. Department of the Interior extends most of the federal endangered species protection to federal threatened species.

washover fan - a deposit of sand sized particles washed off the beach and accumulated as a thin, tongue-like layer on top of the marsh.

wild nest - a nest which emerges on the beach that was unknown to the conservationists.