Editing North Sea (section)

=== Coasts ===
{{main|Coastline of the North Sea}}
[[File:Wattenmeer-Nordfriesland.jpg|thumb|The German North Sea coast]]
The eastern and western coasts of the North Sea are jagged, formed by [[glacier]]s during the [[Quaternary glaciation|ice ages]]. The coastlines along the southernmost part are covered with the remains of deposited glacial sediment.<ref name="Britannica"/> The Norwegian mountains plunge into the sea creating deep [[fjord]]s and [[archipelago]]s. South of Stavanger, the coast softens, the islands become fewer.<ref name="Britannica"/> The eastern Scottish coast is similar, though less severe than Norway. From [[North East England|north east of England]], the cliffs become lower and are composed of less resistant [[moraine]], which erodes more easily, so that the coasts have more rounded contours.<ref name="EastRiding">{{cite web| title = Development of the East Riding Coastline| url = http://www.eastriding.gov.uk/aspirelinks/coastal/1development.pdf| publisher = East Riding of Yorkshire Council| access-date = 24 July 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070810055627/http://www.eastriding.gov.uk/aspirelinks/coastal/1development.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->| archive-date = 10 August 2007| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name="Eurosion">{{cite web| title = Holderness Coast United Kingdom| url = http://copranet.projects.eucc-d.de/files/000164_EUROSION_Holderness_coast.pdf| publisher = EUROSION Case Study| access-date = 24 July 2007| archive-date = 11 May 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110511113054/http://copranet.projects.eucc-d.de/files/000164_EUROSION_Holderness_coast.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> In the Netherlands, Belgium and in [[East Anglia]] the [[littoral]] is low and marshy.<ref name="Britannica"/> The east coast and south-east of the North Sea ([[Wadden Sea]]) have coastlines that are mainly sandy and straight owing to [[longshore drift]], particularly along Belgium and Denmark.<ref name="GHC">{{Cite book
 |title        = Overview of geography, hydrography and climate of the North Sea (Chapter II of the Quality Status Report).
 |publisher    = [[Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic]] (OSPAR)
 |year         = 2000
 |url          = http://www.ospar.org/eng/doc/pdfs/R2C2.pdf
 |access-date  = 4 December 2007
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070710023601/http://www.ospar.org/eng/doc/pdfs/R2C2.pdf
 |archive-date = 10 July 2007
 }}<!--This citation covers the entire paragraph for the intro--></ref>