What should be a shallow, marshy environment, complete with a complex set of channels, islands and sand bars is becoming a flat, scoured bay subject to the full force of the Adriatic.

ECONOMIST: Flood barriers

In many volcanic islands, the land adjacent to the beach is the only flat land available, hence its attractiveness for development.

UNESCO: Introduction

"A lack of coastal irregularities, " such as substantial barrier islands or hills, and the Gulf of Mexico's flat bottom make southern Louisiana "ideal for wave damage, " according to the National Weather Service Web site.

CNN: Storm surge the fatal blow for New Orleans

The river flows into the broad, flat Miramichi Bay, which is sheltered from the wider Gulf of Saint Lawrence by a string of low-lying islands.

BBC: The Titanic��s final resting place