Bight (geography)
In geography, bight has two meanings. A bight can be simply a bend or curve in any geographical feature,[1] usually a coast. Alternatively, the term can refer to a large (and often only slightly receding) bay. It is distinguished from a sound by being shallower. Traditionally, explorers defined a bight as a bay that could be sailed out of on a single tack in a square-rigged sailing vessel, regardless of the direction of the wind (typically meaning the apex of the bight is less than 25 degrees from the edges).
Prominent bights
- Great Australian Bight
- Great Magnetic Bight
- Bay of Campeche
- Bight of Benin
- Bight of Bonny or Bight of Biafra
- Georgia Bight or South Atlantic Bight
- German Bight or Heligoland Bight
- Mecklenburg Bight (also called Mecklenburg Bay)
- Mid-Atlantic Bight
- New York Bight
- North Taranaki Bight
- Santa Monica Bay
- South Taranaki Bight
- Southern Bight
- Southern California Bight
- McKenzie Bight
- Trinity Bight
- Robson Bight
- Portland Bight (Jamaica)
References
- ↑ "bight" Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
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