waterway

transportation

Learn about this topic in these articles:

engineering

lake systems

  • Lake Ann in North Cascades National Park, Washington
    In lake: Economy and ecology

    The economic importance of waterways as communication links is enormous. In the earliest times, when travel by many societies was substantially by water, travel routes became established that resulted in relationships between cultural factors and surface hydrology networks. Today river and lake systems serve as communication links and play…

    Read More
Related Topics:
oceanic plateau
shoal

bank, rocky or sandy submerged elevation of the seafloor with a summit less than 200 m (650 feet) below the surface but not so high as to endanger navigation. Many banks are local prominences on continental or island shelves. Similar elevations with tops more than 200 m below the surface are called oceanic plateaus. Banks whose tops rise close enough to the sea surface to be hazardous to shipping are called shoals. Some banks provide favourable conditions for marine life and are therefore important fishing grounds—e.g., the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.