The bay itself is a shallow indentation of the coast, and is fringed with high picturesque cliffs, breached in places by steepsided narrow gullies.
Cherbourg is situated at the mouth of the Divette, on a small bay at the apex of the indentation formed by the northern shore of the peninsula of Cotentin.
The lower jaw should be strongly protruding, the ears should be small and erect, the forehead deeply wrinkled with an indentation between the eyes, known as the "stop."
The American coasts are for the most part mountainous and unbroken, the chief indentation being the Gulf of California; but the general type is departed from in the extreme north and south, the southern coast of South America consisting of bays and fjords with scattered islands, while the coast of Alaska is similarly broken in the south and becomes low and swampy towards the north.
The Gulf of Gabes, the Syrtis Minor of the ancients, is a semicircular shallow indentation of the Mediterranean, about 50 m.