Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge. 

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on the top five countries with the longest coastlines.

Coastlines are the stunning interface between land and sea.  It seems that everyone wants to be close to them with around 40% of the world’s population living within 100 kilometres of the coast.

These coastal areas provide some of the most incredible landscapes on earth, ranging from rocky cliffs, bays, islands, estuaries, deltas, and sandy beaches.  They are constantly changing and evolving with the rise and fall of tides, along with coastal erosion, sea level change, and storm events.

Coastlines are biologically rich supporting a myriad of plants and animals, as well as some animals that look like plants such as coral.  An animal that roots down like a plant, feeds like a human by capturing their food with their tentacle-like arms, which they then sweep into their mouths, with the polyps secreting a hard outer skeleton of limestone, that then colonise to give the appearance of a coral.

The economic impact of coastlines is enormous with global trade, shipping, tourism, fishing, and energy resources all making up the maritime economy.

Countries are even now physically changing their coastlines adding to their land mass building expensive, real estate such as Palm Island and The World Islands in Dubai, and aviation industry such as airports in China.

Today’s mnemonic will be on the five countries with the longest coastlines.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

 

 

Wikipedia Summary

 

A coast – also called the coastline, shoreline, or seashore – is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake.[1][2] Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape, as well as by water induced erosion, such as waves. The geological composition of rock and soil dictates the type of shore that is created. Earth contains roughly 620,000 km (390,000 mi) of coastline.

Coasts are important zones in natural ecosystems, often home to a wide range of biodiversity. On land, they harbor important ecosystems such as freshwater or estuarine wetlands, which are important for bird populations and other terrestrial animals. In wave-protected areas, they harbor salt marshes, mangroves or seagrasses, all of which can provide nursery habitat for finfish, shellfish, and other aquatic animals.[3][4] Rocky shores are usually found along exposed coasts and provide habitat for a wide range of sessile animals (e.g. mussels, starfish, barnacles) and various kinds of seaweeds.

In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore, representing the intertidal zone where there is one.[5] Along tropical coasts with clear, nutrient-poor water, coral reefs can often be found between depths of 1–50 m (3.3–164.0 ft).

According to an atlas prepared by the United Nations, about 44% of the human population lives within 150 km (93 mi) of the sea as of 2013.[6] Due to its importance in society and its high population concentrations, the coast is important for major parts of the global food and economic system, and they provide many ecosystem services to humankind. For example, important human activities happen in port cities. Coastal fisheries (commercial, recreational, and subsistence) and aquaculture are major economic activities and create jobs, livelihoods, and protein for the majority of coastal human populations. Other coastal spaces like beaches and seaside resorts generate large revenues through tourism.

Marine coastal ecosystems can also provide protection against sea level rise and tsunamis. In many countries, mangroves are the primary source of wood for fuel (e.g. charcoal) and building material.

Since coasts are constantly changing, a coastline's exact perimeter cannot be determined; this measurement challenge is called the coastline paradox. The term coastal zone is used to refer to a region where interactions of sea and land processes occur.[10] Both the terms coast and coastal are often used to describe a geographic location or region located on a coastline (e.g., New Zealand's West Coast, or the East, West, and Gulf Coast of the United States.)

Coasts with a narrow continental shelf that are close to the open ocean are called pelagic coast, while other coasts are more sheltered coast in a gulf or bay. A shore, on the other hand, may refer to parts of land adjoining any large body of water, including oceans (sea shore) and lakes (lake shore).

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast]

 

Mnemonic

 

Five Longest Coastlines Mnemonic – CaN Indonesia RaP

(Picture Indonesians learning to rap with Iwa K one of the first nationally successful rappers in Indonesia) 

 

1.      Canada   202,080 km

2.      Norway   83,281 km

3.      Indonesia   54,716 km

4.      Russia   37,653 km

5.      Philippines   36,289 km

 

Five Fun Facts

 

1.       A coastline is the area where land meets the sea or ocean, or a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean.  Whereas a coastal zone is a region where interaction of the sea and land processes occur.

 

2.      Animals of all different shapes and sizes live along the coast and may include sea turtles, rockhopper penguins, puffins, sea snails, barnacles, starfish, mussels, and sea lions.  While, birds may include Pelicans, cormorants, terns, oystercatchers, Albatross, seagulls, and herons.

 

3.      Plant life can be quite diverse and can include kelp which is a seaweed that can grow up to a metre a day, mangroves which grow in tropical and subtropical zones and exhibit aerial structural and breathing roots that stick up out of the water like snorkels, seagrasses that form dense underwater meadows that are critical ecosystems forming habitats and food, while salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water and are marshy because of the decomposing plant matter forming peat and hence boggy conditions along with the mud.

 

4.      There are four types of coastlines.  These are emergent coastlines, concordant coastlines, high and low-energy coastlines, and rivieras.

An emergent coastline is a coastline that has experienced a fall in sea level, because of either a global sea-level change or local uplift.

A concordant coastline is a coastline where bands of different rock types run parallel to the shore.

A high energy coast is when the wave energy is relatively high so that erosion of small-grained material tends to exceed deposition, and consequently gives rise to landforms such as cliffs.

Whilst, a riviera is a coastal region with a subtropical climate and vegetation.

 

5.      How to measure a coastline.  You would have heard the term coastal paradox mentioned in the Wikipedia article.  This means that a coastline does not have a well-defined length.  Measurements of the length of a coastline behave like a fractal, which means that measurements will be different at different scale intervals.  For example, the smaller the scale interval, the longer the coastline will be.  This is magnified for complex coastlines as opposed to relatively smooth ones.

 

 

Three Question Quiz

 

Q.1.  What is the longest pier in the world?  Options are Progresso Pier in Mexico or The Lucinda Pier in Australia

 

Q.2.  The Skeleton Coast in Africa is famous as a treacherous coastline with thick fog, stormy seas, and unpredictable currents resulting in shipwrecks and stranded whales.  What country is the Skeleton Coast in?

 

Q.3.  What is the world’s largest beach?  Options are Praia do Cassino in Brazil, or Ninety Mile Beach in Australia

 

Bonus Q.   What is the busiest beach in the world?  Options are Dalian Beach in China or Coney Island Beach in New York

 

Bonus Q.   What did the sand say when the tide came back in?  What do you do with a sick boat?

 

 

Mnemonic Recap

 

Five Longest Coastlines Mnemonic – CaN Indonesia RaP

(Picture Indonesians learning to rap with Iwa K one of the first nationally successful rappers in Indonesia) 

 

1.      Canada   202,080 km

2.      Norway   83,281 km

3.      Indonesia   54,716 km

4.      Russia   37,653 km

5.      Philippines   36,289 km

 

 

Three Question Quiz Answers

 

Q.1.  What is the longest pier in the world?  Options are Progreso Pier in Mexico or The Lucinda Pier in Australia

A.   Progresso Pier in Mexico at 6,500 metres.  The Lucinda Pier is 5,760 metres

 

Q.2.  The Skeleton Coast in Africa is famous as a treacherous coastline with thick fog, stormy seas, and unpredictable currents resulting in shipwrecks and stranded whales.  What country is the Skeleton Coast in?

A.   Namibia.  Locals build their houses out of the bones of the stranded whales

 

Q.3.  What is the world’s largest beach?  Options are Praia do Cassino in Brazil, or Ninety Mile Beach in Australia

A.  Praia do Cassino in Brazil which is around 240km long

 

Bonus Q.   What is the busiest beach in the world?  Options are Dalian Beach in China or Coney Island Beach in New York

A.  Dalian Beach in China with up to 40,000 people visiting this 500-metre beach during the summer

 

Bonus Q.   What did the sand say when the tide came back in?  What do you do with a sick boat?

A.  Long time, no sea!   Bring it to the dock!

 

 

Word of the Week

 

demure

[ dih-myoor ]

adjective

, de·mur·er, de·mur·est.

1. characterized by shyness and modesty; reserved.

 

Example

The beach dress standard in Australia is somewhat more demure than that of Brazil.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]

 

 

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References

 

https://kids.kiddle.co/Coast

https://www.twinkl.com.au/homework-help/geography-homework-help/coasts/top-10-coasts-facts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast

https://chatgpt.com/c/674965a0-74c4-8010-8b1d-7f11cffaf3bb

https://thegeographyteacher.com/facts-about-coasts/

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/demure