Tombolo
This article is about the geographical term Tombolo. For the Italian place of the same name, see Tombolo (Veneto).
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A tombolo (plural tomboli) is a strip of dunes that connects an island to the mainland, making it a peninsula or connecting two islands. Tomboli are formed by sedimentation caused by river mouths, coastal currents and wave breaking in the island environment.
The 30-kilometre-long Adam's Bridge, which connected Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with India via the Palk Strait, was once the world's largest tombolo. It was destroyed a few thousand years ago by a change in mean sea level, and today only a chain of sandbanks exists. In contrast, Chesil Beach in Dorset is not a true tombolo. In the Northern Isles in Scotland, tomboli are called ayres (Old Norse eyrr "shingle beach"). Most are formed by materials coarser than sand, including gravel. The Ayre of Isle St Ninians is the largest active tombolo.
The Ayre of St Ninian's Isle in the Shetland Islands, the largest tombolo in the United Kingdom.
Tomboli examples
Europe
France
- Giens, Côte d'Azur
- Quiberon, Brittany
Ireland
- Howth Head, Dublin
Italy
- Monte Argentario, Tuscany
Turkey
- Kapıdağ Yarımadası
United Kingdom
- England:
- Chesil Beach Dorset
- Gugh (Isles of Scilly)
- Sandbanks Dorset
- Wales:
- Llandudno
- Scotland, Shetland Islands:
- Kettla Ness
- West Burra
- Yei of Huney, Huney
- St Ninian's Isle
- Isle of Gigha
America
Costa Rica
- Parque Marino Ballena
Canada
- Presqu'ile Provincial Park, Ontario
Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Miquelon-Langlade
USA
- Nahant, Massachusetts
Asia
Hong Kong
- Cheung Chau
Japan
- Enoshima, Fujisawa
Yemen
- Isthmus of Aden
More
Australia
- Barrenjoey Headland Pittwater, New South Wales
- Bruny Island, Tasmania
- Red Island, Heard and McDonald Islands
New Zealand
- Aupouri
- Mount Maunganui
Somalia
- Hafun
Tombolo between Eilean Gharb and Gigha (Scotland)
Tombolo di Giannella, Monte Argentario (Italy)
Lake enclosed by two tomboli, Giens, Côte d'Azur (France)
See also
- Isthmus
- Spit
