Maritime coastal navigation terms
Maritime coastal navigation terms
Archipelago - a sea abounding in islands, or just the group of islands themselves. eg Malay Archipelago.
Atoll. A coral reef ringing a coral island and enclosing a lagoon. Found mainly in the Pacific.
Basin - the area of land drained by a river.
Bay - a curving in the coastline, less indented than a gulf.
Bight. a gradual bend inwards of the coastline.
Bore - a tidal wave of great force which ascends a river or estuary.
Cape - a promontory justting into the sea.
channel - a narrow strip of sea between wot land masses. The bed of a stream or river.
Continent - One of the five large land masses of the earth(Africa, America, Europe, Asia, Australia).
Contour-line - a line drawn on a map joining points of equal heights.
Delta - land formed in the mousth of a river by the river silt being deposited there, owing to the absence os strong currents in the sea , which would otherwise disperse it.
Equator - An imaginary circle drawn around the earth midway between the two poles.
Estuary - The lower part of a river where the sea tide meets the river current.
Island - a portion of land entirely surrounded by water.
Isthmus - A narrow strip of land joining larger land masses (eg the Isthmus of Panama).
Lagoon - A lake of sea-water bounded by a coral reef.
Latitude - The angular distance of any place north or south of the equator, measured on an arc of a merideian.
Longitude - The angular distance east or west of a give meridian: usually that of Greenwich.
Mountain - an abrupt rising of the land mass to a considerable height above the surrounding district.
Naze - A point of land running into the sea.
Ox-Bow - a cut off portion of a river or stream , usually found in a low lying plain and is caused by a meandering river cutting away its bank.
Peninsula - a piece of land almost surrounded by water.
Ravine - A long, deep gorge or hollow, usually worn away by a river.
River - a large stream of water flowing in its own defined channel and eventually entering the sea.
Tributary - a stream or river which flows into a larger one.
Tropics - Tow imaginary circles drawn round the earth, one each side of and parallel to the equator at a distance of 23 and a half degrees. The sun is vertical above the northern tropic, the tropic of Cancer, on June 21st. And over the southern one, that of Capricorn, on December 21st. The zone between the two is known as the tropical or torrid zone.