Have you ever noticed that some coastlines are more winding and irregular than others? If you pick up a world map and look at it, you will see the coastlines of islands and continents near the poles. more wrinkledwhile being close to the equator more right You will notice that it has coastlines. So what is the reason for this?

The answer lies in the different processes that affect land and sea borders over time. These processes ice age, weathering, erosionsedimentation, sea level change and tectonic movement It contains various natural phenomena such as Depending on the climate, geology and history of a region, these processes can generate different patterns of shoreline morphology.

Glaciation: Ice cuts the land.

Norway

One of the main factors creating wrinkled coastlines near the poles is ice age. Ice formation, icing and movement on land; is the process of carving out valleys, fjords, lakes and islands.

Glaciers are large ice shelves that flow under their own weight. They can erode the rock below by picking and freezing and thawing. Moreover large amounts of sediment and deposit them as moraines, eskers, and flood plains.

Ice formation has occurred throughout Earth’s history, especially when ice sheets covered most of North America, Europe and Asia. During the Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) occurred repeatedly. During this time we see the glaciers we see today Norway, Alaska, Greenland and Antarctica formed much of the wrinkled coastlines such as

Weathering and erosion: Water attacks the soil.

Brazil

The factor that creates smooth coastlines near the equator weathering and erosion. Weathering rocks rocks by physical, chemical or biological means. to the shredding process is the first name. Erosion is when weathered material is blown up by water, wind or ice. relocation and transportation process.

weathering and erosion; It is more effective in hot, humid climates where precipitation, temperature changes, vegetation and chemical reactions can weaken and dissolve rocks. These two events; smooth and rounded landforms such as cliffs, beaches, deltas and coral reefs can make.

Weathering and erosion are an ongoing event in Earth’s history, but they are more pronounced, especially in areas unaffected by glaciation or tectonics. Here are some examples of smooth coastlines formed in this way. in Brazil, India, Australia and Hawaii we can see.

Tectonic: Plates move over land and sea.

Our Aegean coasts

A third factor that influences the shape of the coastline is is tectonic. Tectonics is the study of how the Earth’s crust is divided into plates that move relative to each other. This event; mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis can create different functions such as

Tectonics, by changing the relative position of land and sea over time can also affect the shape of the shoreline. For example, when plates converge or diverge, they can cause land masses to rise or fall. When plates slide past each other, it can cause lateral displacement or shifting of coastlines.

Tectonics can create both rippled and smooth coastlines, depending on the type and direction of plate movement. tectonic coastlines California, Japan and Iceland we can give.

In summary: the coastline; It is formed by various processes related to climate, geology and history.

coastlines close to the poles, increasingly wrinkled due to ice age during grooming; coastlines close to the equator, become smoother due to weathering and erosion tends to. Tectonics can create both types of coastlines depending on the movement of the plates. So if you see an almost smooth coastline in Norway or a curved coastline in Hawaii, it’s because of tectonic movements.

The shape of the coastline is not only for aesthetic reasons, but also It is also important for environmental, economic and cultural reasons. It affects biodiversity, natural resources, tourism, trade and human settlements. It is therefore crucial to understand how coastlines form and change in order to manage them sustainably and pass them on to future generations.