Factors Controlling the Atlantic Coastline of Europe

Abstract

IN 1938, W. V. Lewis¹ pointed out that the general line of a shore tends to be at right angles to the direction of dominant wave-attack, and that as a bay becomes adjusted to this attack it tends to become asymmetrical, with the longer, smoother side facing the quarter from which the dominant waves approach. In 1940², I suggested that the theory applied by Mr. Lewis to beach material and easily eroded cliffs might be developed to explain the outline of the larger bays of south-West England. I showed that this would account for the fact that their eastern sides have been rendered comparatively smooth, with blunted headlands, while their western sides have been protected from dominant wave-attack, so that their indented minor bays have been preserved between angular promontories.