A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean , a lake , or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf , sea , sound , or bight . A cove is a small, circular bay with a narrow entrance. A fjord is an elongated bay formed by glacial action. The term embayment is also used for related features , such as extinct bays or freshwater environments.
16-542: Tor Bay (sometimes written as Torbay ) is a bay on the south-east coast of the county of Devon , England. Facing east into the English Channel , it is about 4.5 mi (7.2 km) wide from north to south. The settlements of Torquay , Paignton and Brixham , which lie along its coastline, are known collectively as Torbay . Tor Bay is bounded by outcrops of Devonian limestone forming its northern limit at Hope's Nose and its southern at Berry Head . The geology of
32-545: A bight . There are various ways in which bays can form. The largest bays have developed through plate tectonics . As the super-continent Pangaea broke up along curved and indented fault lines, the continents moved apart and left large bays; these include the Gulf of Guinea , the Gulf of Mexico , and the Bay of Bengal , which is the world's largest bay. Bays also form through coastal erosion by rivers and glaciers . A bay formed by
48-422: A half-turn ). It only has one line of symmetry ( reflection symmetry ). In non-technical usage, the term "semicircle" is sometimes used to refer to either a closed curve that also includes the diameter segment from one end of the arc to the other or to the half- disk , which is a two-dimensional geometric region that further includes all the interior points. By Thales' theorem , any triangle inscribed in
64-496: A broad, flat fronting terrace". Bays were significant in the history of human settlement because they provided easy access to marine resources like fisheries . Later they were important in the development of sea trade as the safe anchorage they provide encouraged their selection as ports . The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defines a bay as a well-marked indentation in
80-453: A glacier is a fjord . Rias are created by rivers and are characterised by more gradual slopes. Deposits of softer rocks erode more rapidly, forming bays, while harder rocks erode less quickly, leaving headlands . Semi-circle In mathematics (and more specifically geometry ), a semicircle is a one-dimensional locus of points that forms half of a circle . It is a circular arc that measures 180° (equivalently, π radians , or
96-672: A number of near disasters when the wind changed direction unexpectedly. On 5 November 1688 William of Orange landed at Brixham, starting the Glorious Revolution . During the COVID-19 pandemic , restrictions on the cruise industry led to Tor Bay being used as a layup location to anchor numerous cruise ships including five Holland America vessels, as well as Tui ships Marella Explorer and Marella Explorer 2 . Cunard anchored ships in nearby Babbacombe Bay . The bay contains two sheltered harbours, at Torquay and Brixham. Almost
112-486: A rectangle. The side length of the square is the geometric mean of the side lengths of the rectangle. More generally, it is used as a lemma in a general method for transforming any polygonal shape into a similar copy of itself with the area of any other given polygonal shape. The Farey sequence of order n is the sequence of completely reduced fractions which when in lowest terms have denominators less than or equal to n , arranged in order of increasing size. With
128-401: A restricted definition, each Farey sequence starts with the value 0, denoted by the fraction 0 / 1 , and ends with the fraction 1 / 1 . Ford circles can be constructed tangent to their neighbours, and to the x-axis at these points. Semicircles joining adjacent points on the x-axis pass through the points of contact at right angles. The equation of
144-454: A semicircle with a vertex at each of the endpoints of the semicircle and the third vertex elsewhere on the semicircle is a right triangle , with a right angle at the third vertex. All lines intersecting the semicircle perpendicularly are concurrent at the center of the circle containing the given semicircle. A semicircle can be used to construct the arithmetic and geometric means of two lengths using straight-edge and compass. For
160-399: A semicircle with a diameter of a + b , the length of its radius is the arithmetic mean of a and b (since the radius is half of the diameter). The geometric mean can be found by dividing the diameter into two segments of lengths a and b , and then connecting their common endpoint to the semicircle with a segment perpendicular to the diameter. The length of the resulting segment is
176-413: Is an arm of Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada . Some large bays, such as the Bay of Bengal and Hudson Bay, have varied marine geology . The land surrounding a bay often reduces the strength of winds and blocks waves . Bays may have as wide a variety of shoreline characteristics as other shorelines. In some cases, bays have beaches , which "are usually characterized by a steep upper foreshore with
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#1732855158761192-459: Is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly winds, Tor Bay has long been one of the safest refuges for shipping between Land's End and the Isle of Wight . In the mid-17th century, the bay was occasionally used by the naval fleet as an anchorage and as a gathering place for convoys. These uses were greatly expanded during the wars with France up to 1815, though the bay's exposure to easterly winds caused
208-519: The area is varied and complex, recognised by the 2007 designation of the English Riviera Geopark which includes all of Tor Bay's coastline. During the last glacial period , when sea level was much lower, Tor Bay was dry land, as is shown by the existence of a submerged forest in the bay. It was overwhelmed during the Flandrian transgression which started about 10,000 years ago. Because it
224-408: The coastline, whose penetration is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as to contain land-locked waters and constitute more than a mere curvature of the coast. An indentation, however, shall not be regarded as a bay unless its area is as large as (or larger than) that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation — otherwise it would be referred to as
240-466: The geometric mean. This can be proven by applying the Pythagorean theorem to three similar right triangles, each having as vertices the point where the perpendicular touches the semicircle and two of the three endpoints of the segments of lengths a and b . The construction of the geometric mean can be used to transform any rectangle into a square of the same area, a problem called the quadrature of
256-549: The whole of the bay affords good anchorages and shelter from westerly winds. The bay's sheltered nature makes it a popular location for watersports . There are regular passenger ferry services across the bay between Torquay and Brixham. Bay A bay can be the estuary of a river, such as the Chesapeake Bay , an estuary of the Susquehanna River . Bays may also be nested within each other; for example, James Bay
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