<descriptor thcode="62"><thesaurus thcode="62" name="Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard" scope="Categories of ecosystems for coastal, estuarine, and marine environments." creator="FGDC" rights="public domain" date="2017-05-10" codetype="alpha" prefix="cmecs" uri="https://www2.usgs.gov/science/CMECS" tblname="cmecs" root_code="root" contact="pschweitzer"><category><term thcode="25" code="16" name="hierarchical" parent="11" scope="Substantive broader-narrower relationships exist among the terms."/><term thcode="25" code="16" name="hierarchical" parent="11" scope="Substantive broader-narrower relationships exist among the terms."/></category><altlabel><altlabel>CMECS</altlabel><altlabel>CMECS</altlabel><altlabel>Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)</altlabel><altlabel>Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)</altlabel></altlabel></thesaurus><term thcode="62" code="GC-016" name="Beach" parent="GC-011" scope="Geoform: A gently sloping zone formed by unconsolidated material at the shoreline, typically with a concave profile. ..."/><bt><term thcode="62" code="GC-011" name="Geologic" parent="GC-C052" scope="Geoform Origin: Geologic geoforms are formed by the abiotic processes of uplift, erosion, volcanism, deposition, fluid seepage, and material movement. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="GC-C052" name="Geoform (levels 1 and 2 subcomponents)" parent="GC-C005"/><term thcode="62" code="GC-C005" name="Geoform" parent="root"/><term thcode="62" code="root" name="CMECS" scope="Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard: Category terms encompassing waters from the head of tide or inland incursion of ocean salinity to the splash zone of the coasts to the deepest portions of the oceans and the deep waters of the Great Lakes."/></bt><nt><term thcode="62" code="GC-059" name="Barrier Beach" parent="GC-016" scope="Geoform Type: A narrow, elongate, coarse-textured, intertidal, sloping landform that is generally parallel with the beach ridge component of the barrier island (or a spit), and which is adjacent to the ocean (Jackson 1997; Peterson 1981)."/><term thcode="62" code="GC-060" name="Mainland Beach" parent="GC-016" scope="Geoform Type: Any beach that is connected to the mainland, whether fronting bluffs, dunes, or extensive marshes."/><term thcode="62" code="GC-061" name="Pocket Beach" parent="GC-016" scope="Geoform Type: A small beach between two headlands. Because of this isolation, there is very little?or no?exchange of sediment between the pocket beach and the adjacent shorelines."/><term thcode="62" code="GC-063" name="Tide-Dominated Beach" parent="GC-016" scope="Geoform Type: Beaches that occur in areas of high tide range (10-15 times the wave height) and usually lower waves; wave height is very low. ..."/><term thcode="62" code="GC-062" name="Tide-Modified Beach" parent="GC-016" scope="Geoform Type: Beaches that occur in areas of high tide range (3-15 times the wave height) and usually lower waves (less than 0.3 meter). ..."/><term thcode="62" code="GC-064" name="Wave-Dominated Beach" parent="GC-016" scope="Geoform Type: Beaches that are exposed to persistent ocean swell, waves, and low tides (range of less than 2 meters). Wave-dominated beaches include reflective beaches, intermediate beaches, and dissipative beaches (Short 2006)."/></nt></descriptor>