False Bay in the context of "Pliska Ridge"

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⭐ Core Definition: False Bay

False Bay (Afrikaans: Valsbaai) is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcated by Cape Point to the west and Cape Hangklip to the east. The north side of the bay is the low-lying Cape Flats, and the east side is the foot of the Hottentots Holland Mountains to Cape Hangklip which is at nearly the same latitude as Cape Point. In plan the bay is approximately square, being roughly the same extent from north to south as east to west, with the southern side open to the ocean. The seabed generally slopes gradually down from north to south, and is mostly fairly flat unconsolidated sediments. Much of the bay is off the coast of the City of Cape Town, and it includes part of the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area and the whole of the Helderberg Marine Protected Area. The name "False Bay" was applied at least three hundred years ago by sailors returning from the east who confused Cape Point and Cape Hangklip, which are somewhat similar in profile when approached from the southeast.

False Bay is at the extreme western end of the inshore Agulhas marine ecoregion which extends from Cape Point to the Mbashe river over the continental shelf, in the overlap zone between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point where the warm Agulhas Current and the cooler South Atlantic waters mix. The continental shelf is at its widest in this ecoregion, extending up to 240 km (150 mi) offshore on the Agulhas Bank, but is considerably narrower off False Bay. This ecoregion has the highest number of South African marine endemics, and is a breeding area for many species. The transition between the Agulhas ecoregion and the cooler Benguela ecoregion is at Cape Point, on the western boundary of False Bay.

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👉 False Bay in the context of Pliska Ridge

Pliska Ridge (Bulgarian: връх Плиска, romanizedvrah Pliska, IPA: [ˈvrɤx ˈpliskɐ]) is a three-peaked ridge rising to 667 m (2,188 ft) in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Its central and highest summit, Pliska Peak, is located 2.48 km (1.54 mi) east-northeast of Willan Nunatak (449 m (1,473 ft)), 1.81 km (1.12 mi) southeast of Burdick Peak (773 m (2,536 ft), summit of Burdick Ridge), 3.53 km (2.19 mi) south-southwest of Mount Bowles, 3.68 km (2.29 mi) west-southwest of Kuzman Knoll, and 3.61 km (2.24 mi) northwest of Mount Friesland. The feature is 1.6 km (0.99 mi) long and 500 m (1,600 ft) wide, its axis trending due east-west, with precipitous southern slopes. It is ice-covered except for segments of its easternmost peak (646 m (2,119 ft)) and is bounded to the northwest by Orpheus Gate, to the north by the head of Perunika Glacier, to the east by Nesebar Gap, and to the south and west by the head of Huntress Glacier, the latter flowing 6 km (3.7 mi) southwestwards into False Bay.

First ascent by the Bulgarian Lyubomir Ivanov from Camp Academia on 18 December 2004.

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False Bay in the context of Cape Peninsula

The Cape Peninsula (Afrikaans: Kaapse Skiereiland) of South Africa is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. On the northern end is Table Mountain, overlooking Table Bay and the City Bowl of Cape Town, South Africa. The peninsula is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south. The Peninsula has been an island on and off for the past 5 million years, as sea levels fell and rose with the ice age and interglacial global warming cycles of, particularly, the Pleistocene. The last time that the Peninsula was an island was about 1.5 million years ago. Soon afterwards it was joined to the mainland by the emergence from the sea of the sandy area now known as the Cape Flats. The towns and villages of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats, and the undeveloped land of the rest of the peninsula now form part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The Cape Peninsula is bounded to the north by Table Bay, to the west by the open Atlantic Ocean, and to the east by False Bay in the south and the Cape Flats in the north.

The peninsula is mostly the mountainous remnant of very old durable sandstone formations with low dip, deposited unconformably on an ancient underlying granite peneplain. The climate is of the Mediterranean type, with predominantly winter rainfall and mild temperatures, and the natural vegetation is exceptionally diverse, with an unusually large number of endemic plant species for an area of this size, many of which are endangered, and threatened by human activity and encroachment, but are to some extent protected on the large part of the peninsula which is in Table Mountain National Park. The coastal waters include a major seaport in Table Bay, and a marine protected area in the two adjacent but significantly different marine ecoregions, which meet at Cape Point. Most of the lower lying coastal land of the central and northern peninsula has been developed as first agricultural, and later urban areas. The rocky uplands have historically avoided development because of difficult access, poor soils and steep slopes, and more recently have been legally protected as being of high ecological importance, but are threatened by illegal land invasion and informal settlement.

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False Bay in the context of Roman Rock Lighthouse

Roman Rock Lighthouse is a lighthouse in False Bay, near Simon's Town. It is the only lighthouse in South Africa built on a single rock.

The light was first exhibited on 16 September 1861.

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False Bay in the context of Cape Hangklip

Pringle Bay (Afrikaans: Pringlebaai) is a small, coastal village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, in South Africa. It is situated at the foot of Hangklip, on the opposite side of False Bay from Cape Point. The town and surrounds are part of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO Heritage Site. The bay is named after Rear-Admiral Thomas Pringle, of the Royal Navy, who commanded the naval station at the Cape in the late 1790s.

Situated between Betty's Bay and Gordon's Bay, many of the houses in the small community are only used as holiday houses by their owners. It is accessed by the R44, which connects it to the N2.

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False Bay in the context of Simon's Town

Simon's Town (Afrikaans: Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of Simon's Bay in False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries, it has been a naval base and harbour (first for the British Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The town is named after Simon van der Stel, an early governor of the Cape Colony.

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False Bay in the context of Seal Island, South Africa

Seal Island (formerly known as Witte Klip, meaning "White Rock") is a small land mass located 5.7 kilometres (3.5 miles) off the northern beaches of False Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa. The island is so named because of the great number of Cape fur seals that occupy it. It is 5 acres (2.0 hectares) in area and home to 64,000 Cape fur seals, also known as Brown fur seals.

The large population of seals on the island previously attracted great white sharks to live in abundance near the island, but their population in the area began to drop in 2010, and they had disappeared from the area by 2018. It is not entirely known why great white sharks disappeared from the area, but it is believed to have been caused by either orcas or humans hunting them. The disappearance of great white sharks from the island caused the populations of broadnose sevengill sharks and seals to increase, as they lost their primary predator.

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False Bay in the context of Helderberg Marine Protected Area

The Helderberg Marine Protected Area is a small marine conservation area on the north-eastern side of False Bay in the Western Cape province of South Africa, It lies between the mouths of the Lourens River in the Strand, and the Eerste River in Macassar.

The Helderberg MPA is in the warm temperate Agulhas bioregion. The shoreline is sandy beach with mobile dunes, and the seabed is low sandstone reef with kelp beds and sand sediments. The areas nearest to the river mouths are in relatively poor condition due to pollution of the river water. The beach inside the MPA is the most pristine part of the north shore of False Bay.

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