Embayment

An embayment is a curved indentation of the coast between two headlands, sheltered enough to favor sediment deposition and a stable bay-shaped beach. Where one end is fixed by a headland or structure and wave diffraction wraps into the bay, the shoreline relaxes toward a log-spiral or parabolic equilibrium plan, the basis of the headland-bay or static-equilibrium-bay design used to set a stable nourished beach. The orientation of the deep-water wave climate fixes the bay shape. A natural embayment makes a sheltered site for a harbor basin and a high-tide refuge for small craft.