Coastal Fractal Patterns in Nature
by Owen Borville
September 20, 2021
Science
Coastal patterns across the Earth are very irregular and have been named as fractals, or repeating patterns in nature. Coastal areas become irregular as a result of catastrophic wave action that continuously erodes the landscape. Coastlines show the same type of detail at different scales, which is one of the defining features of fractals. The fractal nature of coastlines make it difficult to near impossible to calculate the true length of the coastline. A coastline length simply cannot be measured. The more the coastline is magnified to a smaller scale, the more complex detail is observed and the more irregular the coastline is observed to be. The length of a coastline will change depending on which scale of magnification is used. As the coastline is magnified toward the atomic level, the length of the coastline become longer and will eventually approach infinity, which is the hallmark of a fractal, a term coined by Benoit Mandelbrot.
by Owen Borville
September 20, 2021
Science
Coastal patterns across the Earth are very irregular and have been named as fractals, or repeating patterns in nature. Coastal areas become irregular as a result of catastrophic wave action that continuously erodes the landscape. Coastlines show the same type of detail at different scales, which is one of the defining features of fractals. The fractal nature of coastlines make it difficult to near impossible to calculate the true length of the coastline. A coastline length simply cannot be measured. The more the coastline is magnified to a smaller scale, the more complex detail is observed and the more irregular the coastline is observed to be. The length of a coastline will change depending on which scale of magnification is used. As the coastline is magnified toward the atomic level, the length of the coastline become longer and will eventually approach infinity, which is the hallmark of a fractal, a term coined by Benoit Mandelbrot.