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A tombolo (Italian, from Latin tumulus - mound) or sometimes ayre (Old Norse Eyrr - gravel beach) is a deposition landform
Landform

In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphology unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography....
 in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit
Spit (landform)

A spit is a Deposition landform found off coasts. At one end, spits connect to land, while at the far end they exist in open water. A spit is a type of bar or beach that develops where a re-entrant occurs, such as at cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift....
 or bar
Bar (landform)

A shoal or sandbar is a somewhat linear landform within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt or small pebbles....
.






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Tombolostocktonislandashlandcounty
Portlandbillandchesilbeach(landsat)
Ap Lei Pai
A tombolo (Italian, from Latin tumulus - mound) or sometimes ayre (Old Norse Eyrr - gravel beach) is a deposition landform
Landform

In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphology unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography....
 in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit
Spit (landform)

A spit is a Deposition landform found off coasts. At one end, spits connect to land, while at the far end they exist in open water. A spit is a type of bar or beach that develops where a re-entrant occurs, such as at cove's headlands, by the process of longshore drift....
 or bar
Bar (landform)

A shoal or sandbar is a somewhat linear landform within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt or small pebbles....
. They usually form because the island causes wave refraction
Refraction

Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in its speed. This is most commonly observed when a wave passes from one optical medium to another....
, depositing sand and shingle moved by longshore drift
Longshore drift

Longshore drift is a geology process by which sediments such as sand or other materials, move along a beach shore. It uses the process of swash to push the material up the beach and backwash down the beach; until it reaches a groyne or another obstacle....
 in each direction around the island where the waves meet. Eustatic sea level rise may also contribute to accretion as material is pushed up with rising sea levels. This is the case with Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England. is one of three major Shingle beach in Britain, often identified as a tombolo, although research into the geomorphology of the area has revealed that it is in fact a Shoal which has "rolled" landwards, joining the mainland with Portland Bill, giving the appearance...
 which connects the Isle of Portland
Isle of Portland

The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England....
 to Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
 in England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 which is notable as the shingle ridge is parallel rather than perpendicular to the coast.

List of notable tombolos

  • Mare Island, Vallejo, California
  • Mersey Point, Shoalwater
    Shoalwater

    Shoalwater may refer to several things* Shoalwater, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth in Western Australia* Shoalwater, Queensland, a town in Australia...
    , Western Australia
    Western Australia

    Western Australia is a States and territories of Australia occupying the entire western third of the Australia . The nation's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.1 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state....
  • The isthmus at Aden
    Aden

    Aden is a city in Yemen, 170 kilometers east of Bab-el-Mandeb.Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus....
    , Yemen
    Yemen

    Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
  • Aupouri Peninsula
    Aupouri Peninsula

    The Aupouri Peninsula is a tombolo at the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. It projects between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east....
    , New Zealand
    New Zealand

    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
  • Barrenjoey Headland
    Barrenjoey, New South Wales

    Barrenjoey is a locality in the suburb of Palm Beach, New South Wales, at the farthest northern tip of Pittwater. The headland is mostly made up of Hawkesbury sandstone which overlays Narrabeen shale, around 10,000 years ago the headland was cutoff from the mainland due to the rising sea level....
    , Pittwater, New South Wales
    New South Wales

    New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
    , Australia
    Australia

    Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
  • Chappaquiddick Island
    Chappaquiddick Island

    Chappaquiddick Island is a small island off the eastern end of the larger island of Martha's Vineyard and is part of the New England town of Edgartown, Massachusetts....
    , Martha's Vineyard
    Martha's Vineyard

    Martha's Vineyard is an island off the United States east coast, to the south of Cape Cod, both forming a part of the Outer Lands region. It is often called just "the Vineyard"....
    , Massachusetts
    Massachusetts

    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
  • Charles Island
    Charles Island

    Charles Island is a 14 acre island located roughly 0.5 mile off the coast of Milford, Connecticut, in Long Island Sound centered at .Charles Island is accessible from shore via a tombolo , which is exposed at low tide....
    , Connecticut
    Connecticut

    Connecticut is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. The state borders New York to the west and south , Massachusetts to the north, and Rhode Island to the east....
  • Chesil Beach
    Chesil Beach

    Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England. is one of three major Shingle beach in Britain, often identified as a tombolo, although research into the geomorphology of the area has revealed that it is in fact a Shoal which has "rolled" landwards, joining the mainland with Portland Bill, giving the appearance...
    , Dorset
    Dorset

    Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
    , England
    England

    native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
  • Cheung Chau
    Cheung Chau

    Cheung Chau is a small island 10 km southwest of Hong Kong Island. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in the territory of Hong Kong, with a population of about 30,000 up to 2006....
    , Hong Kong
    Hong Kong

    Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
  • Fingal Bay
    Fingal Bay, New South Wales

    Fingal Bay is the eastern-most suburb of the Port Stephens Council Local Government Areas of Australia in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia....
    , New South Wales
    New South Wales

    New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
    , Australia
    Australia

    Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
  • Howth Head
    Howth Head

    Howth Head is a headlands and bays north of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, near the districts of Baldoyle and Portmarnock. Sutton, Dublin lies at the entry to the headland and on part of the southern side, and Howth district occupies the rest, with the village and harbour on the northern side....
    , Dublin
    Dublin

    Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
    , Ireland
    Republic of Ireland

    Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
  • Kapidag Peninsula, Balikesir, Turkey
    Turkey

    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
  • Kettla Ness, Burra
    Burra

    West Burra is one of the Scalloway Islands, a subgroup of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is connected by bridge to East Burra. With an area of , it is the eleventh largest of the Shetland Islands....
    , Shetland Islands
    Shetland Islands

    Shetland is an archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, from the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east....
    , Scotland
    Scotland

    conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
  • Llandudno
    Llandudno

    Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy , Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community ....
    , Wales
    Wales

    native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
  • Maharees
    Maharees

    Maharees is a peninsula off the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. Maharees is the windsurfing capital and watersports playground of Kerry....
    , Dingle Peninsula
    Dingle Peninsula

    The Dingle Peninsula is located in County Kerry and is the most westerly point of Ireland....
    , Ireland
    Republic of Ireland

    Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
  • Miquelon, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon
    Saint-Pierre and Miquelon

    The Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a group of small French islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, the main ones being Saint Pierre and Miquelon, south of Newfoundland , Canada....
  • Monemvasia
    Monemvasia

    Monemvassia , and known by the Franks as Malvasia , is a well-known medieval fortress with an adjacent town, located on a small peninsula off the east coast of the Peloponnese in the Greece Prefectures of Greece of Laconia....
    , Laconia
    Laconia

    Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. Laconia has the legal status of a Prefectures of Greece, with Sparti its administrative capital....
    , Peloponnese
    Peloponnese

    The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus is a large peninsula and Regions of Greece in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth....
    , Greece
    Greece

    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
  • Mount Maunganui
    Mount Maunganui

    Mount Maunganui is a town in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, located on a peninsula to the north of the neighbouring city Tauranga, and north west of the suburb Papamoa....
    , New Zealand
    New Zealand

    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
  • Nahant, Massachusetts
    Nahant, Massachusetts

    Nahant is a New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,632 at the 2000 census. With just 1.2 square miles of land area, it is the smallest municipality, area-wise, in the state....
     (a natural tombolo, but connected to the mainland by a causeway
    Causeway

    In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated on a sandbank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland. A transport corridor that is carried instead on a series of arches, perhaps approaching a bridge, is a viaduct....
    )
  • Palisadoes
    Palisadoes

    Palisadoes is the thin tombolo of sand that serves as a natural protection for the harbour of Kingston, Jamaica.Norman Manley International Airport and the historic town of Port Royal are both on Palisadoes, as is Palisadoes Raceway, a go-kart track on old runway on the airport's premises....
    , Kingston, Jamaica
    Kingston, Jamaica

    Kingston is the Capital and largest city of Jamaica and is located on the southeastern coast of the island country. It faces a natural harbor protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit which connects Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island....
  • Presqu'ile Provincial Park
    Presqu'ile Provincial Park

    Presqu'ile Provincial Park is a park in southeastern Northumberland County, Ontario on the north shore of Lake Ontario near the town of Brighton, Ontario....
    , Ontario
    Ontario

    Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
    , Canada
    Canada

    Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
  • Quiberon
    Quiberon

    Quiberon is a Communes of France in the Morbihan Departments of France in Bretagne in northwestern France.It is situated on the southern part of a peninsula of Quiberon, the northern part being the commune of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon....
    , France
    France

    France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
  • St Ninian's Isle
    St Ninian's Isle

    St Ninian's isle is a small island connected by the largest active tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland. The tombolo, known locally as an ayre from the Old Norse for 'gravel beach', is 500 metres long....
    , Shetland Islands, Scotland
  • Ayre o Swinister , Shetland Islands, Scotland
  • Yei of Huney, Huney
    Huney

    Huney is an uninhabited island due east of the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The island is located approximately 1 kilometre south west of the Balta Island and has an area of just 0.2 km? ....
    , Shetland Islands, Scotland
  • Langness, Castletown Bay, Isle of Man
    Isle of Man

    The Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles....
  • Cádiz
    Cádiz

    C?diz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of C?diz, one of eight which make up the Autonomous communities of Spain of Andalusia....
    , Andalucía, Spain
    Spain

    Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
  • Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
    Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

    Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is a Spain city on the island, Gran Canaria, which is one of the Canary Islands located 210 kilometers off the northwestern coast of the African continent within the Atlantic Ocean....
    , Canary Islands
    Canary Islands

    The Canary Islands are a Spain archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union....
    , Spain
    Spain

    Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
  • Hakodate, Hokkaido
    Hokkaido

    , formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island and the largest, northernmost of its 47 prefectures of Japan....
    , Japan
    Japan

    Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
  • Mount Taipingot
    Mount Taipingot

    Mount Taipingot lies at the southern end of Songsong Village on the Rota in the Mariana Islands. It is connected to the main part of Rota by a tombolo, on which is the southern part of Songsong village....
    , Rota
    Rota (island)

    Rota also known as the "peaceful island", is the southernmost island of the United States Northern Mariana Islands and the second southernmost of the Marianas....
    , Northern Marianas
  • Monte Argentario
    Monte Argentario

    Monte Argentario is a comune and a peninsula belonging to the Province of Grosseto in the Italy region Tuscany, located about 150 km south of Florence and about 35 km south of Grosseto....
     , Tuscany coast, Italy


See also

  • Ayre (landform)
    Ayre (landform)

    An ayre is a body of water positioned very near to the ocean and divided from the sea by a narrow bar of land. The term is derived from an Old Norse word used to depict a lake which is only separated by a narrow strip of low lying land from the sea itself....
  • Isthmus
    Isthmus

    File:The Spit Bruny Island.jpg File:IsthmusOfPanama.pngAn isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. Of note, the Isthmus of Panama connects the continents of North America and South America , and the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt connects Africa and Asia ....
  • Bar
    Bar (landform)

    A shoal or sandbar is a somewhat linear landform within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt or small pebbles....


External links

  • (useful for its descriptive photograph)
  • in the Shetland Islands