Figure based on Knebel & Circé, 1995, Seafloor Environments within the Boston Harbor - Massachusetts Bay Sedimentary System: A Regional Synthesis; Journal of Coastal Research; vol. 11, no. 1

Watershed:

area drained by rivers and streams discharging to an estuary

• rivers have been used for transportation, water supply, and waste discharge
• rivers are a source of fine-grained sediments

Estuary:

a coastal embayment or the mouth of a river

• characterized by mixtures of fresh and salty waters
• influenced by the ebb and flow of ocean tides
• protected from large waves
• tends to receive large amounts of nutrients and have high organic productivity
• tends to be sink for fine-grained sediments

Inner Shelf:

an area affected by tidal and storm waves and currents

• sediment erosion and redistribution by sub-aerial process during past sea-level changes
• sediment resuspension and winnowing by modern waves and currents
• supply of fine-grained sediments is small

Basin:

deeper-water offshore area extending below normal regions of tidal- and storm-induced currents

• natural settling area, having weak bottom currents
• significant suply of fine-grained sediments, with much lower organic matter than in estuaries

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