page_title: False Bay
section_title: Bathymetry
hierarchical_section_title: False Bay / Description and location / Bathymetry
caption_attribution_description: English: Bathymetric chart of False Bay, Western Cape, South Africa used in Pfaff et al. (2019): A synthesis of three decades of socio-ecological change in False Bay, South Africa: setting the scene for multidisciplinary research and management
context_page_description: False Bay 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. Much of the bay is on 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.
  False Bay also contains South Africa's largest naval base at Simon's Town, and small fishing harbours at Kalk Bay and Gordon's Bay
context_section_description: The Bathymetry of False Bay differs in character from the west side of the Cape Peninsula. The west coast seabed tends to slope down more steeply than in False Bay, and although the close inshore waters are also shallow, the 100 m contour is mostly within about 10km of the west coast, while the entire False Bay is shallower than about 80 m. The bottom of the bay slopes down relatively gradually from the gently sloping beaches of the north shore to the mouth, and is fairly even depth from east to west except close to the shorelines, with three major features disrupting this gentle slope. These are Seal island, Whittle Rock, and the Steenbras ridge. Just outside the bay, there is a large shoal area at Rocky Bank, and a large ridge extending south-west from Cape Hangklip, which channels cold, nutrient-rich water into the west side of the bay during upwelling events.
caption: False Bay Bathymetry from SA Council for Geoscience
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