headland

Headland on which lies the community of Argentia, on the island of Newfoundland, Canada

The bay at San Sebastian, Spain

The bay at San Sebastián, Spain

A headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. A bay is the reverse, rather an area of water bordered by land on three sides. A large headland may also be called a peninsula. Long, narrow and high headlands may be called promontories. When headlands dramatically affect the ocean currents they are often called capes. A large bay may also be called a gulf, sound or bight. A narrow bay may also be called a fjord if its sides are relatively steep. Any bay may include other bays (for example, James Bay is a bay within Hudson Bay).

Formation

A headland is a piece of land that juts into the sea from the main land coast line. Headlands are shaped by erosion. They are formed when the sea attacks a section of coast consisting of alternating bands of hard and soft rock. The bands of soft rock such as sand and clay, erode more quickly than those of more resistant hard rock such as chalk. This would form a headland.

A bay is an area of water bordered by land on three sides. Bays are found between headlands where there are alternating outcrops of resistant rock and less resistant rock. Waves erode the areas of softer rock more rapidly to form bays.

Geology and geography

The bay of Baracoa, Cuba

Headlands and bays are often 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. Refraction of waves 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, many 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.

List of some well-known headlands

The bay of İzmir, in Turkey

• Africa
  • Cape Agulhas in South Africa
  • Cape of Good Hope in South Africa
  • Cape Juby in Morocco
  • Cape Guardafui in Somalia
  • Cape Verde in Senegal
  • Cape Blanc in Tunisia

• Europe
  • Cabo da Roca in Portugal (Western tip of mainland Europe)
  • Cabo de São Vicente / Sagres in Portugal (Southwestern tip of mainland Europe)
  • Cape Arkona in Germany
  • Cape Finisterre in Spain
  • North Cape in Norway (Northern tip of mainland Europe)
  • Cape Wrath in Scotland
  • Cap Gris Nez in France
  • Land's End in England
  • Pointe du Raz in France
  • Gibraltar
  • Cape Tainaron in Greece (Southern tip of mainland Europe)

• 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 America, Central America and the Caribbean
  • Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA
  • Cape Charles in Virginia, USA
  • Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador/Nunavut, Canada
  • Cape Cod in Massachusetts, USA
  • Cape Columbia, Nunavut, Canada's northernmost point
  • Cape Farewell, Greenland's southernmost point
  • Cape Fear in North Carolina, USA
  • Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, USA
  • Cape Henry in Virginia, USA
  • Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, USA
  • Cape Spear in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada's easternmost point
  • Cabo San Lucas, in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

• South America
  • Cape Froward in Chile
  • Cape Horn in Chile
  • Cape Virgenes in Argentina

• Oceania
  • Cape Egmont in New Zealand
  • Cape Foulwind in New Zealand
  • Cape Leeuwin in Australia
  • Cape Reinga in New Zealand
  • Cape York in Australia
  • East Cape in New Zealand
  • North Cape in New Zealand
  • South East Cape in Australia
  • Young Nick's Head in New Zealand

List of some well-known bays

• Africa
  • Gulf of Guinea
  • Gulf of Sidra - coast of Tunisia and Libya

• Europe - Atlantic
  • Bay of Biscay in France and Spain
  • Lyme Bay off the southern coast of England
  • Weymouth Bay, on the south coast of England

• Europe - Baltic/North 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 Puck
    • Vistula Bay
  • Bay of Pomerania, between Poland and Germany
    • Oder Bay, between Poland and Germany
  • Bay of Greifswald in Germany
  • Bay of Mecklenburg, between Germany and Denmark
  • Bay of Lübeck, in Germany
  • Bay of Kiel, between Germany and Denmark
  • Montrose Basin, Scotland
  • Robin Hood's Bay, on England's North Yorkshire Coast
  • Riddarfjärden in Stockholm, Sweden

• Europe - Mediterranean Sea
  • Adriatic Sea's Gulf of Kotor in Montenegro
  • Adriatic Sea's Gulf of Kvarner in Croatia
  • Adriatic Sea's Gulf of Trieste between Italy and Croatia, including entire coast of Slovenia
  • Bay of Naples

• Asia
  • Bay of Bengal, near Bengal (India/Bangladesh)
  • Bohai Gulf (China)
    • Bohai Bay
    • Laizhou Bay
    • Liaodong Bay
  • Ha Long Bay (Vietnam)
  • Nha Trang Bay (Vietnam)
  • Gulf of Cambay (Gulf of Khambhat), Gujarat (India)
  • Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat (India)
  • Leyte Gulf
  • 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 America, Central America and the Caribbean
  • Acapulco, Mexico
  • Baffin Bay, between Canada and Greenland
  • Bahía de Banderas, Mexico
  • Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
  • Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts
  • Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts
  • Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia
  • Delaware Bay between Delaware and New Jersey
  • Galveston Bay in Texas
  • Georgian Bay on Lake Huron
  • Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan
  • Green Bay in Wisconsin
  • 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 bordering Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida
  • Gulf of Panama in Panama
  • 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
  • Miramichi Bay in New Brunswick opens up to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
  • Mobile Bay in Alabama
  • Monterey Bay in California
  • Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island
  • Penobscot Bay in Maine
  • Saginaw Bay in Michigan

The San Diego Bay seen from the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area.

• • San Diego Bay in California
  • San Francisco Bay in California
  • San Pablo Bay in California
  • Tampa Bay in Florida
  • Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada

• South America
  • Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Gulf of Venezuela in Venezuela
  • San Matias Gulf
  • Golfo San Jorge
  • Baía de Todos os Santos in Brazil

• Oceania

Landsat 7 composite imagery of Port Phillip Bay.

• • 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:

• Gulf of Oman
• Gulf of Aden

See also

• List of bays of the British Isles
• Great capes

External links

• GeoResources - diagrams of headland and bay formation

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