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A Headland is an area of land adjacent to water on three sides. A bay is the reverse, an area of water bordering land on three sides. Headlands and bays are usually, but not always, found together on the same stretch of coastline. Headlands and bays form on concordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form where weak (less resistant) rocks (such as sands and clays) are eroded, leaving bands of stronger (more resistant) rocks (such as chalk, limestone, granite) forming a headland, or peninsula. Wave refraction occurs on headlands concentrating wave energy on them so many other landforms, such as caves, natural archs and stacks, form on headlands. Wave refraction disperses wave energy through the bay, and along with the sheltering effect of the headlands this protects bays from storms. This effect means that the waves reaching the shore in a bay are usually constructive waves , and because of this most bays feature a beach. A bay may be only metreFor other uses of "metre" and "meter", see Metre (disambiguation). The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Systeme International d'Unites). It is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in absolute vacus across, or it could be hundreds of kilometreA kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer (symbol: km is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres. It is approximately equal to 0. 621 miles, 1094 yards or 3281 feet. Slang terms for kilometre include " klick" (or "click") and "kay". Click" is also used fors across.

Headlands and bays may also form in lakeA lake is a large body of water, usually fresh water, surrounded by land. Large lakes are sometimes referred to as "inland seas" and small seas are sometimes referred to as lakes. For examples (of saline lakes): the Great Salt Lake, but the Dead Sea.s.

Sometimes bays may also form where movements of the earth's crust ( tectonicsTectonics (from the Greek for "builder", tekton , is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structure of the crust of the Earth (or other planets) and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to creat) bring areas of land together, or move them apart. Usually these bays are referred to as seaSunset at sea A sea (pronounced see is a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean. The term is also used for large, usually saline, lakes that lack a natural outlet, such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is a small fress or gulfA gulf or bay is a part of a lake or ocean that extends so that it is surrounded by land on three sides. See Headlands and bays for more on this. Gulf is also a novella by Robert A.s and not bays.

Headlands, particularly large headlands, may also be called peninsulas, or where they dramatically affect the ocean currents they are called capes.

"Capes and bays geography" is a derogatory term for the approach to teaching geography that requires students to rote learn the names of large number of geographical features rather than taking a more theoretically driven approach.