In geography, a spit is a landform made by the deposition of sand by the movement of tides. Spits are narrow and elongated – one end is attached to the mainland and the other is out in open water. A spit develops when waves meet the beach at an oblique angle, moving sediment down the beach and into the open waters where it is deposited in a narrow strip. As a spit grows, it might become stable and fertile and even support habitation.
1. La Dune de Bouctouche, Canada
La Dune de Bouctouche, known by its first inhabitants as the Great Little Harbour, has hiking and cycling trails that are part of the New Brunswick Trail system.
There are 12 kilometers (7.5mi) of whispering sands making up the dunes easily viewed from a boardwalk along a conservation area known as the Irving Eco Center.
La Dune de Bouctouche consists of a 6.08 mile (1,1km) long ridge of sand formed over centuries by the wind and stormy seas. The spit has almost enclosed the bay area over its full length leaving an opening to the bay at its mouth that is a 1.1 mile (1,7km) wide opening and the dune is still expanding today.
It serves as a habitat for a wide variety of aquatic plants and animals, and shore and migratory birds, making this a major ecological site. The spit also serves to protect the bay's calm waters and salt marshes and a sandy beach, bathed by the warm bay waters, stretches alongside. [link1, link2, map]
2. Zlatni Rat, Croatia
Zlatni Rat (Golden Cape) is a narrow white pebble beach on the same named spit near Bol, located 2 km (1.25mi) west of Bol harbour, on the southern coast of the island of Brač, Croatia.
The shape of the spit shifts with the changes in tide, currents and wind, veering out into the sea 634 m (2.080ft) long. A reliable afternoon westerly wind known as a Maestral, together with clear and somewhat cool water make the spit a destination for windsurfers.
Despite its less than appealing name (although 'Zlatni Rat' actually means golden horn), it really is a little slice of paradise.
Jutting out into the water off the island of Brac and surrounded by lush pine groves, it’s all flour-white sands and the bluest of waters around its shores. [link1, link2, map]
3. La Manga del Mar Menor, Spain
La Manga or La Manga del Mar Menor (meaning "The Sandbar of the Minor Sea") is a seaside spit in the Region of Murcia, Spain. The strip is 22 km (13,7mi) long and 100 metres (330ft) wide (average), separating the Mediterranean Sea from the Mar Menor (Minor Sea) lagoon, from Cabo de Palos to the Punta del Mojón.
Historically, it was known by the Romans as Palus and later by the Moors as Al Buhayrat Al Qsarand. In the 17th century its name changed to Mar Chico, meaning "small sea" and later as El Mar Menor.
Originally, it was a bay opening into the Mediterranean; at either end, volcanic reefs gradually held back the sand and sediment that was dragged along by the sea currents to form a sandy column of dunes and rock vegetation and long beaches in contact with two seas.
La Manga sandbar is cut off by natural channels that keep the two seas in contact with each other; the so-called golas allow water from the Mediterranean into the lake. As such, the space was untouched until the 1960s, when La Manga was discovered as a tourist resort and underwent a transformation which included the urbanisation of the area and the construction of tourist infrastructures.
The Mar Menor with its 5 islands and having shallow and protected waters, lends itself to being an International waterbased Sports Station. [link, map]
4. Ocean City, USA
Ocean City, sometimes known as OC, or OCMD, is an Atlantic Ocean resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, United States. Ocean City is widely known in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is a frequent destination for vacationers in that area.
The population was 7,102 at the 2010 census, although during summer weekends the city hosts between 320,000 and 345,000 vacationers, and up to 8 million visitors annually. During the summer, Ocean City becomes Maryland's second most populated town.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 36.37 square miles (94.20 km2), of which, 4.41 square miles (11.42 km2) is land and 31.96 square miles (82.78 km2) is water.
Ocean City is on the barrier spit, which encompasses Ocean City, South Bethany, Delaware, and Fenwick Island, Delaware. Ocean City's southern point is an inlet formed by the 1933 Chesapeake - Potomac hurricane. Rainfall and tides swelled the rivers and bays surrounding Ocean City until the overflowing water cut a 50 foot (15m) crevasse from the bay to the ocean.
Ocean City businessmen had long sought funding to create an inlet to support a harbor, so residents seized upon the opportunity and built jetties to ensure the city's land remained divided from what is now Assateague Island. [link, map]
5. Vistula Spit, Poland/Russia
The Vistula Spit is a phenomenal sandy peninsula formed by sands deposited by sea currents and the Vistula River. That embankment spreads out from Gdańsk to Baltiysk in the Russian Federation.
The Vistula Spit is located at the north-eastern coast of the Bay of Gdańsk, it separates the Vistula Lagoon from open waters of the Bay, while from the side Zulawy it is separated with a system of channels. It is a geographical land, spreading for the length of 60km (37mi), as far as to Sobieszewska Island; its width spreads from 600m (1,970ft) to 2km (1.25mi).
The border between Poland and Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of Russia, bisects it, politically dividing the spit in half between the two countries.
The westernmost point of Russia is located on the Vistula Spit. The Polish part contains a number of tourist resorts, incorporated administratively as the town of Krynica Morska.
This specific tourist region has been formed by dunes, for years unnaturally afforested with mixed trees. Three nature reserves were created here, i.e. the Bird Paradise (“Ptasi Raj”), also called the Seagull Bayou (“Mewia Łacha”), the Fisherman’s Place (“Kąty Rybackie”) and the Oaks of the Vistula Spit (“Buki Mierzei Wiślanej”).
It is worth visiting fishing resorts - Piaski, Jantar or Mikoszewo, as well as the place of very favorable climatic conditions caused by iodine in the air, high insolation and air humidity - that is Krynica Morska, which attracts many tourist as the warmest region of the Coast during the summer. [link1, link2, map]
6. Hel Peninsula, Poland
Hel Peninsula is a 35-km-long (22mi) sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
The width of the peninsula varies from approximately 300 m (1,000ft) near Jurata, through 100 m (330ft) in the most narrow part to over 3 km (1.85mi) at the tip.
Since the peninsula was formed entirely of sand, it is frequently turned into an island by winter storms. Until the 17th century the peninsula was a chain of islands that formed a strip of land only during the summer.
A road and a railroad run along the peninsula from the mainland to the town located at the furthest point, Hel, a popular tourist destination. Other towns, ports, and tourist resorts are Jurata, Jastarnia, Kuźnica, Chałupy, and Władysławowo. [link, map]
7. Curonian Spit, Lithuania/Russia
The Curonian Spit is a 98 km (61 mi) long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia and its northern within southwestern Lithuania. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by the two countries.
The Curonian Spit stretches from the Sambian Peninsula on the south to its northern tip next to a narrow strait, across which is the port city of Klaipėda on the mainland of Lithuania. The northern 52 km (32mi) long stretch of the Curonian Spit peninsula belongs to Lithuania, while the rest is part of the Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The width of the spit varies from a minimum of 400 m (1,300ft) in Russia (near the village of Lesnoy) to a maximum of 3,800 m (2.36mi) in Lithuania (just north of Nida).
The Curonian Spit is home to the highest moving (drifting) sand dunes in Europe. Their average height is 35 meters (115ft), but some attain the height of 60 meters (197ft). Several ecological communities are present on and near the Spit, from its outer beaches to dune ridges, wetlands, meadows, and forests. Its location on the East Atlantic Flyway means it is frequently visited by migratory waterfowl. Between 10 and 20 million birds fly over the feature during spring and fall migrations, and many pause to rest or breed there.
The largest town on the spit is Nida in Lithuania, a popular holiday resort, mostly frequented by Lithuanian and German tourists. The northern shoreline of Curonian Spit is the site of beaches for tourists. Both the Russian and Lithuanian parts of the spit are national parks. [link, map]
8. Spurn Point, UK
Spurn Point is a narrow sand spit on the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber estuary. It is over 3 miles (4.8 km) long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as 50 yards (46 m) wide in places.
The southernmost tip is known as Spurn Head or Spurn Point and is the home to an RNLI lifeboat station and disused lighthouse. It forms part of the civil parish of Easington.
Spurn Head covers 280 acres (113 ha) above high water and 450 acres (181 ha) of foreshore. It has been owned since 1960 by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is a designated National Nature Reserve, Heritage Coast and is part of the Humber Flats, Marshes and Coast Special Protection Area. [link, map]
9. Minnesota Point, USA
Minnesota Point, also known as the Park Point neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota, United States; is a long, narrow sand spit that extends out from the Canal Park tourist recreation-oriented district of the city of Duluth. The Point separates Lake Superior from Superior Bay and the Duluth Harbor Basin.
Lake Avenue South/Minnesota Avenue serves as a main route in the community. Minnesota Point is approximately 7 miles (11km) in length, and when included with adjacent Wisconsin Point, which extends 3 miles (5km) out from the city of Superior, Wisconsin, is reported to be the largest freshwater sand spit in the world at a total of 10 miles (16km). [link, map]
10. Dungeness Spit, USA
Dungeness Spit is a 5.5-mile (8.9 km) long sand spit jutting out from the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula in northeastern Clallam County, Washington, USA, into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The body of water it encloses is called Dungeness Bay. The Dungeness Spit is entirely within the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and home of the Dungeness Lighthouse. It is the longest natural sand spit in the United States. Its land area, according to the United States Census Bureau, is 1,271,454 square meters (0.4909 sq mi, or 314.18 acres).
The lighthouse once was run by United States Coast Guard, but since an automatic light was installed, it has been run by the "New Dungeness Lighthouse Organization". The spit is open to the public year around. [link, map]
11. Farewell Spit, New Zealand
Farewell Spit is a narrow sand spit at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. Known to the Māori as Tuhuroa, it runs eastwards from Cape Farewell, the island's northernmost point. It is located about 50 kilometres (31mi) north of Takaka and 20 kilometres (12.5mi) from Collingwood.
It forms the northern side of Golden Bay and is the longest sandspit in New Zealand, stretching for about 26 km (16mi) above sea level and another 6 km (3.7mi) underwater. The spit runs in from west to east, and is made from fine golden sand - as Cape Farewell to the west of the spit is mostly composed of quartz sandstones, i.e. silica but with traces of other heavy minerals, garnet, ilmenite, magnetite and pyroxene. The erosion of the cliffs into fine sand carried on the sea currents creates Farewell spit further east.
The northern side of the dunes are steeper and unstable being constantly exposed to the prevailing winds which average over 25 km/h. The southern side, that which faces Golden Bay is more stable and largely covered with vegetation. The tide here can recede as much as seven kilometres (4.3mi) exposing some 80 square kilometres (31 sqmi) of mud flats; a rich feeding ground for the many sea birds in the area but also a trap for the frequently stranded whales. [link, map]
12. Homer Spit, USA
The Homer Spit is a geographical landmark located in Homer, Alaska on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. The spit is a 4.5-mile (7.2 km) long piece of land jutting out into Kachemak Bay. The spit is also home to the Homer Boat Harbor.
The harbor contains both deep and shallow water docks and serves up to 1500 commercial and pleasure boats at its summer peak. Additional features and attractions include The Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon, which is an artificial "fishing hole", campgrounds, hotels, and restaurants and the Salty Dawg Saloon, which is constructed out of several historic buildings from Homer.
Hundreds of eagles have gathered there in winter to be fed by Jean Keene, the "Eagle Lady". The Spit features the longest road into ocean waters in the entire world, taking up 10–15 minutes to cover by car. [link, map]
13. Cadiz Peninsula, Spain
Cadiz is a Spanish city belonging to the Andalusian Autonomous Region, located in the southeastern end of the European continent, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The city with a population of 157,000 inhabitants, lays on a small, narrow spit of only 10.58 km (6.5 miles) long.
The most outstanding characteristic of Cadiz is that it is totally surrounded by the sea, with the only exception of the southeastern end, where the spit is joined to the town of San Fernando.
This spit has a large seafront with beaches all along the coast, which is part of the Bay with its many piers, docks and shipbuilding yards. [link, map]
14. Fedotova Spit, Ukraine
The length of the Fedotova Spit is more than 20 km (12.5mi). It lies between the Azov Sea and the Utlyuks'kyi estuary. On the basis of Fedotov Spit is Kyrylivka - a small town in the south of Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine, where live about 1500 inhabitants.
At this spit is located more than 150 resorts and 2 children's recreation center. Recreation, quite differ from each other, both on a large area, and the number and form of proposed rooms and services for tourists.
The abundance of entertainment venues, shops, markets, cafes, a clear means of transport to different parts of the spit and the center Kyrylivka make Fedotova Spit truly a paradise for those who like fun and at the same time relaxing holiday in a tourist center. [link, map]
15. Presque Isle, USA
Presque Isle is a recurved sandy peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the city of Erie, in Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. As noted, the name presque-isle literally means "almost an island" in French. In fact, Presque Isle has been an island rather than a peninsula for brief periods. It has been cut off from the mainland four times since 1819, the longest stretch being the 32 years from 1832 to 1864, and each time the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reconnected it.
The peninsula was breached five times between 1917 and 1922, the year after Presque Isle became a state park. While repair efforts then included plugging the breach with bales of hay and wood, in the 1950s a state and federal program built a concrete seawall.
Fifty-eight breakwaters, built by 1992 to slow erosion, have "captured" the sand and significantly slowed its movement eastward. Even with the breakwaters, new sand has to be brought in annually to replenish the beaches.
Presque Isle protects the natural Presque Isle Bay, which creates a deep and wide harbor for the city of Erie. The bay is often filled with pleasure craft as well as cargo ships from all over the world that use the Great Lakes shipping port. [link, map]
Look for Tróia Spit, Portugal
ReplyDeleteSt. Joseph Peninsula, Florida.
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Great post. I had no idea about most of these places. I will be featuring it in my next blog post, in production now!
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Amazing photographs. I had no idea of the terminology for these landforms before reading your post, so this has been my "something new" learnt from today!
ReplyDeleteNew Zealand in Particular looks amazing!