Firth

Firth is the Scots word used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland. It is usually a large sea bay, which may be part of an estuary, or just an inlet, or even a strait (as in the case of the Pentland Firth). It is cognate to fjord, which has a more narrow sense in English, whereas a firth would most likely be called a fjord if it were situated in Scandinavia. Bodies of water named "firths" tend to be commoner on the east coast, or in the south west of the country, although the Firth of Lorne is an exception to this. The Highland coast contains numerous estuaries, straits and inlets of a similar kind, not called "firth", e.g. the Minch, and Loch Torridon; these are often called lochs or kyles.

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A firth is generally the result of glaciation and very often associated with a large river, where erosion caused by the tidal effects of incoming sea water passing upriver has widened the riverbed to an estuary, such as may be seen in the Firth of Clyde. However, this cannot be said in every case. The Cromarty Firth on the East coast of Scotland, for example, resembles a large loch with only a relatively small outlet to the sea and the Solway Firth and the Moray Firth are more like extremely large bays.

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See Pentland Firth.

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Scots: Scots may refer to:...

Scotland: :For other uses, see Scotland (disambiguation). See also British Isles (terminology)....

Estuary: An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and within which sea water mixes with fresh water. The key feature of an estuary is that it is a mixing place for sea water and a significantly-sized river to supply fresh water. A tide is a necessary ...

Firth related Images and Photos (experimental)

Colin Firth	Colin Firth	Bass Rock Firth of Forth Scotland United Kingdom Europe	Summer on the Firth of Fourth
Forth Railway Bridge Over the Firth of Forth Queensferry Near Edinburgh Lothian Scotland Uk	Sun on North Sea Oil Rig Cromarty Firth Scotland