THE DEFINITION OF THE “WINGED FORELAND”: HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The coastal zone of the World Ocean is a very important link in the global lithodynamic system, consisting of difficult developing structures that are subdivided into abrasion, abrasion-accumulative and accumulative systems according to the nature of the substance’s direction. Abrasion-accumulative coastal systems are the most difficult. These natural formations are characterized by a significant variety of litho- and morphodynamic conditions, which allows to distinguish different types of coastal systems within them. The “winged forelands” are the most specific types of abrasion-accumulative systems. The “winged foreland” abrasion-accumulative systems are the least studied natural coastal formations in the World Ocean. The intensification of anthropogenic activities within the coastal zone of the seas and oceans leads to significant changes in the evolution of coastal systems. That is why the insignificant knowledge of the “winged forelands” does not allow rational use of their natural resources.

For the first time the definition of the term “winged foreland” was presented in 1898 in the scientific treatise of the American scientist F. Gulliver “Shoreline Topography”. He singled out the “winged forelands’ as complex coastal formations, which included an indigenous section of the coast and two symmetrically located accumulative forms. This author determined the evolutionary position of these systems by describing their occurrence at an early stage of leveling the dissected bay shore.

V.P. Zenkovich, the founder of coastal science, defines “winged forelands” as a kind of abrasion-accumulative systems. In the terminological reference, he cites the following definition for this system: “Winged foreland is a set of eroded indigenous cape and two spits, growing due to the transfer of destruction products on both sides of it. Examples are frequent on drumlin shores. In the native literature, the term has not been spread”.

The studied abrasion-accumulative systems are most prevalent within the coastal zone of the seas of Eurasia, among which are the Mediterranean, the Caspian, the Azov, the Black, the Baltic and the North. Within the ocean shores “winged forelands” are found on the Atlantic coast of North America.