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Africa, Coastal Geomorphology

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Encyclopedia of Coastal Science

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

The African continent measures 30 × 106 km2 and its relatively unbroken coastline is 30,000 km long, compared with the 70,000 km coast of Asia, which is only 1.5 times larger than Africa, and the 76,000 km coast of smaller North America (24 × 106 km2) with its numerous Arctic islands. Over long distances, the African coast is unbroken by sizable inlets, and its major river mouths, except the Congo, are either deltaic or blocked by sand barriers. Excepting Madagascar (587,000 km2), no large islands lie off the African coast.

Offshore, Africa’s continental shelf covers only 1.28 × 106 km2 compared with 9.39 × 106 km2 for Asia and 6.74 × 106 km2for North America. The shelf averages only 25 km in width, wider off southern Tunisia, Guinea, and major deltas, and reaching 240 km wide across the Agulhas Bank, but narrowing to 5 km off Somalia, northern Mozambique, and Kwa-Zulu. This narrow shelf and paucity of sheltering islands allow deep-water waves and surface ocean currents to approach...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Antony R. Orme

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  1. Antony R. Orme
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Correspondence to Antony R. Orme .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Asheville, NC, USA

    Charles W. Finkl

  2. Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Coconut Creek, FL, USA

    Christopher Makowski

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Orme, A.R. (2019). Africa, Coastal Geomorphology. In: Finkl, C.W., Makowski, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Coastal Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93806-6_3

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