A fjard (
Swedish: fjärd, IPA:[ˈfjæːɖ]) is a large open space of water between groups of islands or mainland in archipelagos. Fjards can be found along sea coasts, in freshwater lakes or rivers. Fjard and
fjord were originally the same word with the general meaning of
sailable waterway. In
Scandinavia, fjords dominate along the
North Sea coast while fjards dominate the
Baltic Sea coast.
Fjards vs. fjords vs. förden vs. rias
Although fjards and fjords are similar in that they are a
glacially-formed topography, they still differ in some key ways:
Fjords are characterized by steep high
relief cliffs carved by glacial activity and often have split or branching channels.
Fjards are glacial depressions or valleys that have much lower reliefs than fjords. Fjards fill with eroded local materials which assist in "filling", along with rising sea level since the last ice age contributing as well. Other low relief landforms that are only associated with fjards, such as mud flats, salt marshes, and flood plains,[1] further characterize the difference between fjords and fjards.
"
Förden" of the German coast and the fjords of
Danish eastern
Jutland together form a third type of glacial inlet. They tend to occur along older 'beheaded' river channels and open into the tideless Baltic sea.
Rias are drowned valleys, such as the
estuaries of Thames, Severn and Humber and the
firths of Tay and Forth.
^ABPmer and HR Wallingford. 2007.
Understanding and Managing Morphological Change in Estuaries, Ch. 3 of The Estuary-Guide: A website based overview of how to identify and predict morphological change within estuaries., Joint Defra/EA Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management R&D Programme. UK Department for Environment, Food, and Public Affairs.