English Channel | channel, Europe. English Channel, also called The Channel, French La Manche, Baltic Sea: the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the English Channel. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of England from the northern coast of France and tapering eastward to its junction with the North Sea at the Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais). With an area of some 2. Europe. From its mouth in the North Atlantic Ocean—an arbitrary limit marked by a line between the Scilly Isles and the Isle of Ushant—its width gradually narrows from 1. Although the English Channel is a feature of notable scientific interest, especially in regard to tidal movements, its location has given it immense significance over the centuries, as both a route and a barrier during the peopling of Britain and the emergence of the nation- states of modern Europe. The current English name (in general use since the early 1. Dutch sea atlases of the late 1. Earlier names had included Oceanus Britannicus and the British Sea, and the French have regularly used La Manche (in reference to the sleevelike coastal outline) since the early 1. Physical features. Geology. The contemporary English Channel probably is the result of a complex structural downfolding dating from about 4. The direct ancestor of the channel may well have been a sea occupying the downfold one to two million years ago, with a sea level 6. The withdrawal of water by the glaciers of the late Pleistocene Epoch (about 2. Later the melting of the ice raised the sea level to its present mark, and the ecologically important land bridge across the Strait of Dover finally was submerged about 8,0. Physiography. The seafloor dips fairly steeply near the coasts but is generally flat and remarkably shallow (especially in relation to nearby land elevations); its greatest depth, 5. Hurd Deep, is one of a group of anomalous deep, enclosed troughs in the bed of the western channel. The channel has been shaped by the effect upon its rock strata (with their varying degrees of hardness) of such forces as weathering and erosion (when much of the area was dry land), sea- level changes, and contemporary erosion and deposition by marine currents. The floor of the western channel generally is 2. Harder igneous rocks cause shoals to emerge—as in the case of the Scilly Isles and Channel Islands—and submerged cliffs and narrow depressions provide some additional variety. In the central channel (1. A continuation of the Seine River valley system north of the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy complicates the relief forms. Farther east again, the seafloor is smoother and the geology simpler. Depths range from 6 to 1. Varne and the Ridge greatly constricting shipping lanes. English Channel With TheBecause the English Channel, unlike the Irish or North seas, lay beyond the action of Pleistocene glaciers, superficial deposits are either very thin (three feet or less) or entirely absent. They represent a complex reworking of deposits of various ages, and their distribution reflects tidal streams. Where the streams are strong, the seabed is bare except for pebbles; decreasing velocities give rise to sand and gravel ribbons and waves (the latter up to 4. Gulf of Saint- Malo. Hydrology. Tides in the English Channel generally are strong, especially in the Strait of Dover, and may be visualized as an oscillation (modified by the Earth’s rotation and configuration) about a north- south line through the centre of the channel—i. Detailed map includes history, location, size and depth of English Channel. Separates Great Britain. Map of English Channel by World Atlas. English Channel, also called The Channel, French La Manche, Baltic Sea: the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the English Channel Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of. English Channel definition, an arm of the Atlantic between S England and N France, connected with the North Sea by the Strait of Dover. 350 miles (565 km) long; 20–100 miles (32–160 km) wide. See more. Channel meaning, definition, what is channel: a television station. Learn more. English Channel Ferry RoutesThe central portion experiences semidiurnal (twice- daily) tides (helpful to shipping movements at Southampton, which has a double, or prolonged, high tide), and the Gulf of Saint- Malo experiences the greatest tidal range, 2. Surface temperatures range from 4. F (7° C) in February to 6. F (1. 6° C) in September, although shallow coastal waters are warmer in summer. There is little temperature change with depth in the well- mixed eastern waters of the channel, but bottom- water temperatures fall to 4. F (5° C) in the west. Surface salinities decline eastward from slightly less than the Atlantic level of 3. French landmass. There is an overall water flow through the English Channel to the North Sea, with complete replacement taking about 5. Climate. The weather over the English Channel is highly variable. Often, but especially from October to April, it is cloudy, chilly, and wet, with strong winds and poor visibility. At other times, it is fair and dry, with light winds and good visibility. During periods of unsettled weather, daytime high temperatures rise to about 5. F (1. 2° C) in winter and 6. F (2. 0° C) in summer. When the weather is clear, temperature extremes can range from a winter morning low of 2. F (−5° C) to more than 8. F (3. 0° C) on a summer afternoon. Precipitation averages 2. Gales may blow from any direction but most commonly come from the southwest or west. Economic aspects. Resources. Connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, the respective waters of which are rich in warm- and cold- water plankton, the English Channel is favoured from the latter with cod, herring, and whiting and from the former with hake, pilchard, and mullet. The traditional fishing industry declined in the 2. Brittany. A good climate, sandy beaches, and an attractive coast have encouraged the growth of tourism on both sides of the channel, starting with the fashionable resorts of the late 1. The English ports of Portsmouth and Plymouth have declined from their former levels of naval and commercial activity. English Channel; Location: Western Europe; between the Celtic Sea and North Sea: Coordinates: Coordinates: Part of: Atlantic Ocean: Primary inflows: River Exe, River Seine, River Test, River Tamar, River Somme: Basin countries. One of two governing body of official solo swims of the English Channel. Includes records, history, FAQs, news, and shopping regalia. English Channel An arm of the Atlantic Ocean between France and England, opening to the North Sea through the Strait of Dover. The English Channel is crossed by various ferry routes as well as by an undersea rail tunnel. Cherbourg on the Contentin Peninsula has changed little in character, but Southampton and Le Havre have lost passenger traffic while gaining tremendous container and oil- refining capacity and also experiencing a general commercial growth. Both England and France use channel waters for cooling nuclear- powered generating stations, while the tidal- power generating station on the Rance River (in Brittany), utilizing a tidal range of 3. Transportation. The English Channel is a major route for passenger and freight traffic. Crossings are provided by ferry and air services. Hundreds of watercraft traverse the Strait of Dover daily; and this frequency, as well as the increase in ship size and speed, has led to the introduction of sophisticated navigational safeguard systems, including radar tracking of all ships in the strait. The idea of a channel tunnel was first conceived in 1. In 1. 95. 7 the idea was revived, and in 1. Britain and France decided to carry out the project (the “Chunnel”) jointly. Work was begun, only to be canceled early in 1. British and French national railways and the European Communities. Construction resumed in 1. The Eurotunnel (as it came to be called) connects the road and rail networks of Britain and the Continent by carrying both rail freight and automobiles. The terminals are located at Folkestone in England and Calais in France. Study and exploration. From earliest times, depending on historical factors, the English Channel served as a route for, and a barrier to, invaders of Britain from the Continent. Early Stone Age people crossed the Strait of Dover; later invaders crossed the western end of the channel, trading the copper, tin, and lead they found in Devon and Cornwall, and successive Bronze and Iron Age invaders followed the same route. Julius Caesar’s invasion of 5. Dover route in the east, while William the Conqueror in 1. Normandy to Hastings. With Britain’s later loss of Normandy, the channel again became a defensive line. In the 2. 0th century its strategic role was critical during the two world wars, particularly during the Allied invasion of France in 1. Scholars adduced reasons for the English Channel’s existence as early as the 1. French coast, 1. 82. English coast, 1. The geologic map of the seabed based on borings made in 1. Further studies were associated with early plans for a channel tunnel, and modern surveys done since World War II have made the channel seabed one of the most intensively studied seafloors in the world. Cyril Ernest Everard. Christopher Frederick Wooldridge.
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