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Flanders Bank
The Flanders Banks is an array of nine sandbanks which extend off the coast of Dunkirk, France, in the south of the North Sea. Geography A short distance from Dunkirk lie the banks of Flanders, generally submerged less than five meters deep and separated by furrows ten to twenty meters deep. These sandbanks, also called sublittoral sandy sedimentary groups, are oriented from east-northeast to west-southwest and arranged parallel to the shore of the North Sea. They close the Dunkirk harbour, forcing ships to follow marked passages to enter or leave the port: the West Pass and the Zuydcoote Pass. It is to the north of the latter that the banks can be seen emerging at low tide.Article de Pierre-Jean Thumerelle in ''Guide des merveilles naturelles de la France'', Sélection du Reader's Digest, 1973, p. 220. The continental base is relatively shallow in this area and the banks were formed by tidal currents. Their formation is linked to the flow gain, that is to say that the mass of ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunkirk
Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-largest French harbour. The population of the commune in 2019 was 86,279. Etymology and language use The name of Dunkirk derives from West Flemish 'dune' or 'dun (fortification), dun' and 'church', thus 'church in the dunes'. A smaller town 25 km (15 miles) farther up the Flemish coast originally shared the same name, but was later renamed Oostduinkerke(n) in order to avoid confusion. Until the middle of the 20th century, French Flemish (the local variety of Dutch language, Dutch) was commonly spoken. History Middle Ages A fishing village arose late in the tenth century, in the originally flooded coastal area of the English Channel south of the Western Scheldt, when the area was held by the County of Flanders, Counts of Flanders, va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than long and wide, covering . It hosts key north European shipping lanes and is a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and a rich source of energy resources, including wind energy, wind and wave power. The North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. It was also important globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middle Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Viking Age, Vikings' rise. The Hanseatic League, the Dutch Golden Age, Dutch Republic, and Kingdom of Great Britain, Brita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Mammal
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine environments for feeding and survival. Marine mammal adaptation to an aquatic lifestyle varies considerably between species. Both cetaceans and sirenians are fully aquatic and therefore are obligate water dwellers. Pinnipeds are semiaquatic; they spend the majority of their time in the water but need to return to land for important activities such as mating, breeding in the wild, breeding and molting. Sea otters tend to live in kelp forests and estuaries. In contrast, the polar bear is mostly terrestrial and only go into the water on occasions of necessity, and are thus much less adapted to aquatic living. The diets of marine mammals vary considerably as well; some eat zooplankton, others eat fish, squid, shellfish, or seagrass, and a few eat ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Seal
The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or "earless seals". The only species classified in the genus ''Halichoerus'', it is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin, ''Halichoerus grypus'' means "hook-nosed sea pig". Its name is spelled gray seal in the United States; it is also known as Atlantic seal and the horsehead seal. Taxonomy There are two recognized subspecies of this seal: The type specimen of ''H. g. grypus'' ( Zoological Museum of Copenhagen specimen ZMUC M11-1525, caught in 1788 off the island of Amager, Danish part of the Baltic Sea) was believed lost for many years, but was rediscovered in 2016, and a DNA test showed it belonged to a Baltic Sea specimen rather than from Greenland, as had previously been assumed (because it was first described in Otto Fabricius' book on the animals in Greenland: ''Fauna Groenlandica''). The name ''H. g. g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porpoise
Porpoises () are small Oceanic dolphin, dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and Beluga whale, belugas than to the Oceanic dolphin, true dolphins. There are eight extant species of porpoise, all among the smallest of the toothed whales. Porpoises are distinguished from dolphins by their flattened, spade-shaped teeth distinct from the conical teeth of dolphins, and lack of a pronounced beak, although some dolphins (e.g. Hector's dolphin) also lack a pronounced beak. Porpoises, and other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates. Porpoises range in size from the vaquita, at in length and in weight, to the Dall's porpoise, at and . Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism in that the females are larger than males. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Porpoises use Animal echolocation, echolocatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
