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Dictionary:

headland

  (hĕd'lənd, -lănd') pronunciation
n.
  1. A point of land, usually high and with a sheer drop, extending out into a body of water; a promontory.
  2. The unplowed land at the end of a plowed furrow.

 
 

An area of high land jutting out into the sea.

 

[Ge]

Area at the end of a furlong or other strip of ploughed ground on which the plough could be turned. Could be cultivated or left as pasture to serve as access to the field.

 
Wikipedia: Headlands and bays
Headland on which lies the community of Argentia, on the island of Newfoundland, Canada
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Headland on which lies the community of Argentia, on the island of Newfoundland, Canada
The bay at San Sebastian, Spain
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The bay at San Sebastian, Spain
The bay at San Sebastián, Spain
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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
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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
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The bay of İzmir, in Turkey

List of some well-known bays

The San Diego Bay seen from the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area.
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The San Diego Bay seen from the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area.
Landsat 7 composite imagery of Port Phillip Bay.
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Landsat 7 composite imagery of Port Phillip Bay.

A couple of non-gulfs (actually straits) are:

See also

External links


 
Translations: Translations for: Headland

Dansk (Danish)
n. - pynt, odde, forbjerg

Nederlands (Dutch)
kaap, voorgebergte, wendakker

Français (French)
n. - promontoire, pointe

Deutsch (German)
n. - Landspitze

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (γεωγρ.) (απόκρημνο) ακρωτήρι, κάβος

Italiano (Italian)
promontorio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - promontório (m) (Geog.)

Русский (Russian)
мыс, защитная полоса

Español (Spanish)
n. - cabo, promontorio

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (hög) udde, åkerren

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
陆岬, 海角, 畦头未耕地

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 陸岬, 海角, 畦頭未耕地

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 갑, 두렁

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 岬, 突端

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الأرض الرأسيه أرض محروثه محاذيه لأطراف الأثلام أو قريبه من سياج, الرأس, لسان من الأرض داخل البحر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כף, לשון יבשה‬


 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Headlands and bays" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

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