Chapter 1: The Coastal Area
1.2 Coastal formations (1)
| European Coasts - An Introductory Survey Chapter 1: The Coastal Area 1.2 Coastal formations (1) |
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| Fig 17: Falesia, soft steep cliffs near Brindisi, Italy | Fig 18: The island of Skye, Scotland, is separated from the mainland by the Soudn of Sleath formed by glaciers during the Ice Ages; UK | Fig 19: The Thames estuary east of London, UK |
Falesia
A particular fonn of mud coast is the Falesia coast. Here there are eroded vertical silty-clayey cliffs instead of
mud banks (see Fig. 17).
Coastal formations
The coastline seldom forms a straight line. Where water flowing from inland interrupts the coastline then a wide variety of characteristic coastal
formations occur: for example, a fjord, an estuary, a tidal inlet or some kind of a delta.
Fjord
Fjords are common in the northern part of Europe. Deep trenches have been formed by the eroding forces of glaciers during the Ice Ages (see Fig. 18).
Estuary
Estuaries are those parts of rivers where the tide of the sea has an effect (see Fig. 19). An estuary
forms the transition from river to sea. The saline sea water mixes with the fresh river water.
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| This page is from the book "European Coasts", produced in the framework of the Erasmus project under EC contract ICP 92-G-2013 and placed on the Internet in the framework of the PIANC-MarCom initiative on Education. |