Anthropogenic (Geoform Origin)

Component: Geoform

Unique Identifier: 217

Description

Definition

In many coastal and deep oceans, artificial structures (such as piers, breakwaters, bulkheads, berms, drilling rigs, and artificial reefs) are a significant part of the environment. The continually (or intermittently) submerged portions of features attract vagile fauna and provide attachment surfaces for plants and sessile animals. These features can also provide shelter from predators and prevailing current, and they can support niche communities that increase overall biodiversity. However, these structures can also have negative effects (such as altering natural hydrodynamic patterns, interfering with animal movement, and increasing contaminant loading into nearshore areas), and thus are often of interest to resource managers.

The same relationship between Level 1 and Level 2 geoforms prevails in this origin type as in the geologic and biogenic categories; however, due to the complexity of some of the anthropogenic structures, many more Level 2 units may be present in a single Level 1 geoform. Besides physical structures, features that are the result of human activity (such as scars and trawl marks) are included among the anthropogenic geoforms.