Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
English to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Geography / Historical changes in geography
English term or phrase:simplification coast
I am working from a text written by a German speaker. Is there an English language technical term for what is being described? We are looking at changes in a coast line over more than a thousand years where the coast is now less jagged, more smooth.
"The xxx Current, which runs parallel to the Atlantic shoreline of xxx, is the reason for a simplification coast. At simplification coasts, these kind of natural trenches are a well known phenomenon. "
Explanation: the process being called coastal smoothing
example of usage:
On a smoothed coast (without the beach ridges which now give it a curvature), but with the present day bathymetric conditions, the wave power gradient was determined. There was no noticeable drift component indicating deposition. http://search.datapages.com/data/doi/10.1306/A1ADD898-0DFE-1...
Thank you very much Maria for all of your input on this. Regular or straight coast seem to come close, but I think smoothed works best in context. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I think staight may be the term I am looking for. I looked at the coast of the Ivory Coast, as well as the coast of Morocco. They are straight in the sense of a straight line on a sphere. I had seen the term straight earlier and it threw me because I was thinking 180 degree curvature on a flat plane. But Hance uses it a few times which makes the meaning more clear. I think the sandbars do work for this author's allusions to trenches. Thank you very much.
to be honest i have never heard of trenches formed by longshore currents... i do know that longshore currents result in the abundant formation of sandbars (which admittedly look nothing like trenches)
Its really hard to tell which feature the author is talking about. Maybe someone else has a better idea.
here is an excerpt from an article on the Coastal Geomorphology of Africa:
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..
Explanations for Africa’s relatively smooth coastline and narrow continental shelf are to be found in the tectonic processes…. and geomorphic processes that have shaped the coast more precisely during later Cenozoic. http://www.springerlink.com/content/tkk5836007408t7m/
a bit more geographic:
Its (the Ivory Coast’s) coast is the epitome for West Africa: straight, sand bar ridden and subject to enormous movements of sand.
The Geography of Modern Africa by William Adams Hance, p 194 http://books.google.com/books?id=zlBSDK4lNMgC&pg=PA194&lpg=P...
We are talking about the west African coast.
Additionally, there is question of the natural trenches, "At simplification coasts, these kind of natural trenches are a well known phenomenon. " If anyone know about that sort of natural formation, it may help further define the geological phenomenon, if there is there is a technical term used in English.
I wonder where this coast is. That would help to narrow things down a bit. As I've indicated in a link, I found a German term, Ausgleichsküste, for which one of the suggested translations is "simplification coast" (along with "mature shore line" - but I'm not sure that's the same thing). I haven't found anything to confirm that this is a generally accepted term in English. German-English isn't one of my language pairs. Perhaps others can comment on this. All I can say is, it looks like a term indicating that the coast has been "evened out". In the light of this, Maria's answer seems a good option.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
28 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
eliminated the roughness of the coast
Explanation: I think simplification coast means that the coast was once jagged (rough) thousand years ago, but due to the xxx Current, the coast's roughness has been eliminated and smoothened.
Yasutomo Kanazawa Local time: 08:33 Works in field Native speaker of: Japanese
1 hr confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
flat coastlines / open-coast tidal flats
Explanation: It depends on whether they are sandy beaches or muddy flats. Some examples: "Look in your atlas and find two large U.S. cities that are on flat coastlines and two that are on mountainous coastlines." missiongeography.org/water4student.pdf "The cliffs give way to a flat coastline with beaches and estuarine shores in Picardy, round the mouth of the River Somme." about-france.com/tourism/french-seaside-coast.htm "Sedimentation on the open-coast tidal flats of south-western Korea is controlled by seasonal variation in the intensity of onshore-directed winds and waves. As a result, an environmental oscillation takes place between tide-dominated conditions in summer and wave-dominated conditions in winter." http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118648482/abstrac...
Jenni Lukac Local time: 00:33 Native speaker of: English
1 hr confidence:
eroded coastline
Explanation: currents have acted to erode the coastline to a less rugged, more even terrain
Liam Hamilton Bulgaria Local time: 01:33 Native speaker of: English
Explanation: or coast line with interface ?
depends on coast
1.
" 340 km of southern Baltic coast ........It exhibits all characteristic of a simplification coast with its long sandy bars and lagoons and its steep slopes of glacial tills. It is therefore the result of a long and highly dynamic geological history which started with Litorina transgression (7800y BP) and is still ongoing.
As a consequence the coastline, which builds the interface between the brackish sea and the terrestrial surface and subsurface waters, has moved landwards".
by Maria Theresia Schafmeister, Univ Greifswald, Germany: Change of groundwater discharge os respone to varying climatic conditions-a model study at catchment svale at the Wismar bay/Baltic sea.
byw.cprm.gov.br/331GC/1343622.html
2. "the simplification coast to the line of seabanks described at Hill Pill, .....had two main effects: a gain in land for potentially year-round-use, and a shortening and smoothing of the line of a sea defence , although generally never to the extent that outfall works ceased to be protected in a recess from wave action".
to find this work you might type: Historical simplification coast
Maria Chmelarova Local time: 18:33 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Slovak
Explanation: "Regular coastine" is the best I can find in the way of a technical term. It is contrasted with "irregular" or "indented coastline".
You can also find a fair number of examples of "uniform coastline".
Regular Coastlines
A Regular Coastline is smooth with very few natural harbors. Africa is an example of a regular Coastline. Regular coastline make building ports and harbors very difficult. Without these, trade, sea travel, and cultural diffusion are near to impossible. But, this also prevents invasion from the sea. This feature of Africa kept invaders out of sub-Sahara Africa for millennia. http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/geography/bow.c...
Frankly, I think it's all guesswork when it comes to finding a proper technical term. I've tried to suggest a "good enough" term for the general meaning, but I suspect that "simplification coast" - or the German term that lies behind it - has a more precise meaning (perhaps referring to the process by which the coast is shaped).
Dylan Edwards Local time: 23:33 Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for all your input. We certainly keep learning, don't we?
Explanation: the process being called coastal smoothing
example of usage:
On a smoothed coast (without the beach ridges which now give it a curvature), but with the present day bathymetric conditions, the wave power gradient was determined. There was no noticeable drift component indicating deposition. http://search.datapages.com/data/doi/10.1306/A1ADD898-0DFE-1...
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -1
