Headlands and bays
From Open Encyclopedia
- Bay redirects here. For other uses see Bay (disambiguation).
Image:San Sebastian.jpg A headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. A bay is the reverse, an area of water bordered by land on three sides. Large headlands may also be called peninsulas, long, narrow and high headlands promontories. When headlands dramatically affect the ocean currents they are often called capes. A gulf generally occupies an area larger than a bay and may itself contain one or more bays.
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Geology and geography
Headlands and bays are usually found together on the same stretch of coastline. Headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form where weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Wave refraction occurs on headlands concentrating wave energy on them, so many other landforms, such as caves, natural archs and stacks, form on headlands. Wave refraction disperses wave energy through the bay, and along with the sheltering effect of the headlands this protects bays from storms. This effect means that the waves reaching the shore in a bay are usually constructive waves, and because of this most bays feature a beach. A bay may be only metres across, or it could be hundreds of kilometres across.
Sometimes bays form where movements of the earth's crust (tectonics) bring areas of land together, or move them apart. Usually these bays are referred to as seas or gulfs and not bays.
"Capes and bays geography" is a derogatory term for the approach to teaching geography that requires students to learn by rote the names of large number of geographical features rather than taking a more theoretically driven approach.
List of some well-known headlands
- Europe
- Cabo da Roca in Portugal
- Cape Arkona in Germany
- Cape Finisterre in Spain
- North Cape in Norway
- Cape Wrath in Scotland
- Cap Gris Nez in France
- Pointe du Raz in France
- Asia
- Kanyakumari or Cape Comorin in Tamil Nadu, India
- Cape Engaño on the Philippines
- Indira Point in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
- Cape Dezhnev in Russia
- North American, Central America and the Caribbean
- Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA
- Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador/Nunavut, Canada
- Cape Cod in Massachusetts, USA
- Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, USA
- Cape Henry in Virginia, USA
- Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, USA
- Cape Girardeau in Missouri, USA "The only inland cape in the world."
List of some well-known bays
- Africa
- Gulf of Guinea
- Gulf of Sidra - coast of Tunisia and Libya
- Europe - Baltic Sea
- Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland
- Gulf of Finland between Finland and Estonia
- Bay of Gdansk between Poland and Kaliningrad Oblast
- Bay of Pomerania, between Poland and Germany
- Bay of Szczecin, between Poland and Germany
- Bay of Greifswald in Germany
- Bay of Mecklenburg, between Germany and Denmark
- Bay of Lubeck, in Germany
- Bay of Kiel, between Germany and Denmark
- Riddarfjärden in Stockholm, Sweden
- Asia
- Bay of Bengal, near Bengal (India/Bangladesh)
- Bohai Gulf (China)
- Gulf of Cambay(Khambhat), Gujarat (India)
- Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat (India)
- Manila Bay on Luzon island in the Philippines
- Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran
- Red Sea
- Subic Bay on Luzon island in the Philippines, the site of a former US Navy base
- North American, Central America and the Caribbean
- Baffin Bay, between Canada and Greenland
- Bahía de Banderas, Mexico
- Bay of Green Bay in Wisconsin
- Bay of Pigs on Cuba
- Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
- Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts
- Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts
- Chesapeake Bay mostly in Maryland
- Delaware Bay between Delaware and the New Jersey
- Galveston Bay in Texas
- Georgian Bay on Lake Huron
- Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan
- Gulf of California between the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland.
- Gulf of Santa Catalina in California
- Gulf of Maine in Maine
- Gulf of Mexico between Mexico and the United States
- Hudson Bay, between the Canadian provinces and territories of Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut
- James Bay, between Ontario and Quebec, opens to Hudson Bay to the north
- Massachusetts Bay in Massachusetts
- Mobile Bay in Alabama
- Monterey Bay in California
- Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island
- Penobscot Bay in Maine
- Saginaw Bay in Michigan
- San Francisco Bay in California
- Tampa Bay in Florida
- Oceania
- Great Australian Bight off the south coast of Australia
- Botany Bay, near Sydney, Australia
- Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- Bay of Islands, New Zealand
- Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
- Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand
- Hawke Bay, New Zealand
- North Taranaki Bight, New Zealand
- Port Phillip Bay, Australia
- South Taranaki Bight, New Zealand
- Tasman Bay, New Zealand
A couple of non-gulfs (actually straits) are:
See also
External links
bg:Залив da:Bugt de:Golf (Meer) es:Golfo eo:Golfo fr:Baie (géographie) gl:Golfo ko:만 io:Bayo it:Golfo he:מפרץ ja:湾 pl:Zatoka pt:Baía ro:Golf fi:Lahti (vesialue) zh:峡湾
