Glossary
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| Capital Dredging | The 'first time' creation of new channels or berths as part of a capital programme. |
| CD | Chart Datum |
| CHaMP | Coastal Habitat Management Plan |
| Chart Datum (CD) | The level to which both tidal levels and water depths are reduced - on most UK charts, this level is that of the lowest low tide (LAT). For example, in Southampton CD is 2.74 m below Ordnance Datum Newlyn (ODN). |
| Clasts | Fragmental mineral or rock material (forming sediment). |
| Clay | A fine-grained, plastic, sediment with a typical grain size less than 0.004 mm. Possesses electromagnetic properties that bind the grains together to give a bulk strength or cohesion. |
| Coastal defence | General term used to encompass both coast protection against erosion and sea defence against flooding. |
| Coastal processes | Collective term covering the action of natural forces on the shoreline and nearshore seabed. |
| Coastal zone | Some combination of land and sea area. |
| Cobble | A rounded rock on a beach, with diameter ranging from about 75 to 250 mm (see also boulder, gravel and shingle). |
| Cohesive sediment | Sediment containing significant proportion of clays, the electromagnetic properties of which cause the sediment to bind together giving a bulk strength (see clay). |
| Concentration | The quantifiable amount of a substance in the surrounding air, water, food or sediment. |
| Consolidation | The compacting of sediment/strata of material, as a result of pressure after deposition. |
| Constituent | One of the harmonic elements in a mathematical expression for the tide-producing force and in corresponding formulas for the tide or tidal current. Each constituent represents a variation in the relative positions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun. |
| Core | A cylindrical sample extracted from a beach or seabed to investigate the types and depths of sediment layers. A inner, often much less permeable, portion of a breakwater or barrier beach. |
| Correlation Coefficient | Measurement (between -1 and 1) of the quality of fit of a line through a set of data points. The closer the number to +-1.0 the better the fit. |
| Crest | Highest point on a beach face, breakwater or seawall. |
| Cross-shore | Perpendicular to the shoreline. |
| Current | Flow of water. |
| CW | Coastal Waters |
| CWS | County Wildlife Sites |