page_title: Tombolo
section_title: Formation
hierarchical_section_title: Tombolo / Formation
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue aérienne de la côte de Dublin (Irlande).English: Aerial view of the coast of Dublin (Ireland).
context_page_description: A tombolo is a sandy isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian tombolo, meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated as ayre, is a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached, the island is then known as a tied island.
  Several islands tied together by bars which rise above the water level are called a tombolo cluster. Two or more tombolos may form an enclosure that can eventually fill with sediment.
context_section_description: The shoreline moves toward the island (or detached breakwater) due to accretion of sand in the lee of the island where wave energy and longshore drift are reduced and therefore deposition of sand occurs.
caption: A satellite photo of the isthmus of Sutton which connects Howth Head and County Dublin
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