Llandudno and its tombolo

Abstract

In contrast to the grandeur of nearby Snowdonia, the area around Llandudno is subdued. Nevertheless, Llandudno stands on one of the finest examples of a ‘tombolo’ in Britain. Tombolo is the name given to a coastal strip of land that has grown up between two anchor points, usually the mainland and a nearby island. In general it is composed of mixtures of coastal sediments: clays, sands or occasionally gravels, depending on the local supply of sediments and the energy of the sea. The Llandudno tombolo is composed of clays and sands, probably supplied by the Conwy River and also reworked from earlier glacial debris deposited in Conwy Bay.