Surge channel

Surge channel on the West Coast Trail.

A surge channel is a narrow inlet on a rocky shoreline. As waves strike the shore, water fills the channel, and drains out again as the waves retreat. The narrow confines of the channel create powerful currents that reverse themselves rapidly as the water level rises and falls.

Surge channels can range from a few inches across to 10 feet or more. They may create tide pools if the conditions are correct, but the rapid water movement almost always creates a dangerous situation for people or animals that are caught in it. The West Coast Trail on the coast of Vancouver Island, B.C., is famous for its large number of surge channels, some of which are impassable even at low tide and must be crossed inland.

Coastal geography

Landforms	Anchialine pool Archipelago Atoll Avulsion Ayre Barrier island Bay Baymouth bar Bight Bodden Brackish marsh Cape Channel Cliff Coast Coastal plain Coastal waterfall Continental margin Continental shelf Coral reef Cove Dune cliff-top Estuary Firth Fjard Fjord Freshwater marsh Fundus Gat Geo Gulf Gut Headland Inlet Intertidal wetland Island Islet Isthmus Lagoon Machair Marine terrace Mega delta Mouth bar Mudflat Natural arch Peninsula Reef Regressive delta Ria River delta Salt marsh Shoal Shore Skerry Sound Stack Strait Strand plain Submarine canyon Tidal island Tidal marsh Tide pool Tied island Tombolo Windwatt

Beaches	Beach cusps Beach evolution Beach morphodynamics Beach ridge Beachrock Pocket beach Raised beach Recession Shell beach Shingle beach Storm beach Wash margin

Processes	Blowhole Cliffed coast Coastal biogeomorphology Coastal erosion Concordant coastline Current Cuspate foreland Discordant coastline Emergent coastline Feeder bluff Fetch Flat coast Graded shoreline Headlands and bays Ingression coast Large-scale coastal behaviour Longshore drift Marine regression Marine transgression Raised shoreline Rip current Rocky shore Sea cave Sea foam Shoal Spit Steep coast Submergent coastline Surf break Surf zone Surge channel Swash Undertow Volcanic arc Wave-cut platform Wave shoaling Wind wave Wrack zone

Management	Accretion Coastal management Integrated coastal zone management Submersion

Related	Bulkhead line Grain size boulder clay cobble granule pebble sand shingle silt Intertidal zone Littoral zone Physical oceanography Region of freshwater influence

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