Coastline

Among other parts of the world, Europe is distinguished by the most rugged coastline: about 246 km2 of territory per 1 km of its length. The total length of the coastline is about 38 thousand km. The maximum distance of the interior of Europe from the sea is 1600 km. About 25% of Europe’s area is located on the peninsula: Kanin, Kola, Scandinavian, Jutland, Brittany, Iberian, Apennine, Balkan, Crimean.

Aligned accumulative and abrasive shores prevail, formed mainly by wave processes of the sea: the eastern shores of the White and southeastern shores of the Barents Seas, the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, the western shores of the North Sea, the eastern shores of the Bay of Biscay, most of the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The southern and southeastern shores of the North Sea, individual sections of the southern shores of the Barents Sea are of the watt (marching) type, which forms in the low coast under the influence of tidal movements of the sea. In the remaining regions, relatively high, strongly dissected tectonic shores prevail: fault banks of the Kola Peninsula, folded shores in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, locally cultivated by ancient glaciers (Fjord and skerries of the Norwegian Sea, the northern Baltic Sea, the coast of Scotland and Iceland) or altered the influence of marine ingression (rias coast of the peninsulas of Brittany, Wales, western Ireland, northwest of the Iberian Peninsula; Dalmatian coast in the west of the Balkan Peninsula).

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