The historic abbey of Mont Saint-Michel became an island on March 21 after a rare “supertide” flooded a causeway.

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Coastal physical geography produces some beautiful landforms such as tombolos.  A tombolo is created when sand deposits attach an island to a larger piece of land–think of it as special type of isthmus.  Mont St. Michel (picture above) is the world’s most famous example because of the iconic walled city with crowned with a striking medieval abbey.  As the tides fluctuated, the city and abbey were alternately connected or disconnected from the mainland.  However, a ‘super-tide’ that occurs once every 18.6 years wiped out the artificial causeway stranding motorists on France’s most visited tourist destination (I wouldn’t mind be stranded there right about now).  


Tags: water, physical,  coastal, geomorphology, landforms, France,
tourism.