Tombolo

Encyclopedia : T : TO : TOM : Tombolo

For the Italian city, see Tombolo, Italy.

Tombolo at Stockton Island, Ashland County (Wisconsin).

A tombolo is a deposition landform such as a spit or bar which forms a narrow piece of land between an island or offshore rock and a mainland shore, or between two islands or offshore rocks. They usually form because the island causes wave refraction, depositing sand and shingle moved by longshore drift in each direction around the island where the waves meet. Eustatic sea level rise may also contribute material as material is pushed up as the sea level rises, as in the case of Chesil Beach which connects the Isle of Portland to Dorset in England which is notable as the shingle ridge is parallel rather than perpendicular to the coast.

List of notable tombolos

• Howth Head, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
• Chesil Beach, Dorset, England
• Chappaquiddick, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
• Miquelon, St. Pierre and Miquelon
• Aupouri Peninsula, New Zealand
• Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
• Cheung Chau, Hong Kong
• Kettla Ness, Burra, Shetland Islands, Scotland
• St Ninian's Isle, Shetland Islands, Scotland
• Llandudno, Wales
• Yei of Huney, Huney, Shetland Islands, Scotland
• Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
• Quiberon, France
• Barrenjoey Headland Pittwater, NSW, Australia
• The isthmus at Aden
• Although connected by a manmade causeway, Nahant, Massachusetts is a natural tombolo.

See also

• Isthmus
• Bar

External links

• [Geology.About.com's page on tombolos] (useful for its descriptive photograph)
• [Photograph: Chesil Beach]
• [Photograph: Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.