Headland

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File:Land's End - geograph.org.uk - 171343.jpg
Land's End, England

A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.[1] Headlands are characterised by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, and steep sea cliff.

Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is flanked by land on three sides, whereas a headland is flanked by water on three sides. Headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form when weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, and granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Through the deposition of sediment within the bay and the erosion of the headlands, coastlines eventually straighten out, then start the same process all over again.

List of notable headlands

Africa

File:Cape Malabata Lighthouse.jpg
Cape Malabata, Morocco

Asia

Europe

File:Beachy Head and Lighthouse, East Sussex, England - April 2010 crop horizon corrected.jpg
Cliffs at Beachy Head, England

North America

File:Point Reyes National Seashore PORE2141.jpg
Point Reyes, California, USA

Canada

Greenland

Mexico

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United States

Oceania

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Hanauma Bay and Koko Crater at Koko Head, O'ahu Island, Hawai'i, USA
File:View from North Head Lookout - panoramio.jpg
Sydney Heads, New South Wales, Australia
File:South Cape Bay 2.jpg
South West Cape, Tasmania

Australia

New Zealand

United States (Hawaii)

South America

File:CapeHorn.jpg
Cape Horn, Chile

See also

References

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  1. Whittow, John (1984). Dictionary of Physical Geography. London: Penguin, 1984, pp. 80, 246. Template:ISBN.

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