7 July 2016

Tombolo at St. Ninian’s Isle, Shetland

Posted by Callan Bentley

I came to Shetland for the rocks – but I’ve been surprised and delighted by the huge range of interesting coastal geomorphology to be seen here too. I’ve never seen so many sea stacks, wave-cut cliffs, and bayhead bars in my life.

One that is so “classic,” so “textbook” that I couldn’t resist it, is the tombolo that connects St. Ninian’s Isle to mainland Shetland.

In Google maps, it couldn’t be more plain:

I shot two GigaPans there, one from each side of the structure:

Link GigaPan by Callan Bentley

Link GigaPan by Callan Bentley

I also made a Theta 360 spherical photo from the middle of the tombolo:

Tombolo @ St. Ninian’s Isle, Shetland #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

UPDATE:
My student Robin has imaged some sand I collected at the site on the GIGAmacro. See if you can find phyllite chips, shell fragments, and quartz grains in this Petri dish full of tombolo sand:
Link GigaPan by Robin Rohrback