Ecomare

The Norwegian North Sea coast consists mostly of bare, rounded rocks and sections with steep cliffs. There are many large and small islands and the coast is transected by deep bays (fjords). The larger fjords cut as far as 100 km inland and can be 1200 meters deep. During the last glacial period, the weight of the ice pushed down the land, which slowly rebounded as the ice melted. The enormous depths were the work of scouring glaciers and meltwater.

Younger rock formations with varying characteristics lie more to the south, on the English coast. TMostly low cliffs, often with a beach lying in front, intermingle with bays and flat river mouths. The Wash is a small tidal flat region created in one of these bays. In some places, tidal flats and salt marshes lie in the river mouths and behind the beach walls. Further to the south, above the mouth of the river Thames, lies the coast of East Anglia. This coast is made up of gravel sorted by form and size as it is transported to the beach by the waves.

The estuary where the Thames and various other rivers end has been around already for 8000 years and has never silted up. The English coast South of this estuary is built up from remnants of cocolites, microscopic algae covered with small round calcium plates. In the course of millions of years, the calcium plates have accumulated into a layer hundreds of meters thick, which now form the well known white chalky cliffs, such as by Dover.