Arcachon Bay
Encyclopedia
Arcachon Bay is a bay
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...

 of the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 on the southwest coast of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, situated between the Côte d'Argent
Côte d'Argent
Côte d’Argent is a touristic name given to a section of the French Atlantic coast.-Location:In south west of France, facing the Atlantic Ocean, La Côte d’Argent is part of the Bay of Biscay...

 and the Côte des Landes
Côte des Landes
Côte des Landes or Côte landaise is a touristic name given to a section of the French sea shore. It is a section of Côte d'Argent.All along the French coasts, the different parts of the sea shore have particular names....

, in the region of Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

. The bay covers an area of 150 km² at high tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....

 and 40 km² at low tide. Some of its geological features are natural preservation areas.

The general shape of the Bassin d'Arcachon is that of an equilateral triangle pointing north, the southwest corner of which is open to the sea, between Cap Ferret
Cap Ferret
Cap Ferret is a headland, situated at the south end of the commune of Lège-Cap-Ferret in the French department of Gironde. The headland takes the form of a spit, which separates the Atlantic Ocean from Arcachon Bay...

 and the town of Arcachon
Arcachon
Arcachon is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.It is a popular bathing location on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux in the Landes forest...

 (more specifically, its suburb Pyla-sur-Mer), through a 3 km narrow channel (Les Passes). On the north shore is the town of Arès, then Andernos-les-Bains
Andernos-les-Bains
Andernos-les-Bains is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France.Andernos-les-Bains is a located on the northeast shore of Arcachon Bay. To its northwest is the town of Arès....

 on the northeast. Just south of the entrance is The Great Dune of Pyla
The Great Dune of Pyla
The Great Dune of Pyla is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in La Teste-de-Buch in the Arcachon Bay area, France, 60 km from Bordeaux....

. Nearly in the middle of the bay is a very particular island: L'île aux Oiseaux (Isle of the Birds).

The Bassin still has a link to the sea perhaps because of the Eyre river
Eyre River
The Eyre is a coastal river that flows through the Moors of Gascony, in Aquitaine, Southwest France.The river is generally presented as the confluence of:* the Grande Leyre , its principal course, upstream from Moustey,...

 that runs from the Landes forest
Landes forest
The Landes forest or the Landes of Gascony , in the historic Gascony region of southwestern France now known as Aquitaine, is the largest maritime-pine forest in Europe...

 and has its mouth (Delta de l'Eyre) in its southeast corner. Otherwise the Bassin would have become blocked by the sandbanks
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...

 built up by the tides.

In the past, similar areas became lakes (called in French lacs or étangs) and are nowadays filled with fresh water. On the French Atlantic coast, running north-south between the Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...

 estuary to the Adour
Adour
The Adour is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre , at the Col du Tourmalet, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost as the Adour du Tourmalet. At its final stretch, i.e...

 river mouth, are the Lac d'Hourtin-Carcans
Lac d'Hourtin-Carcans
Lac d'Hourtin-Carcans is a lake in Gironde, France. It is the largest lake situated entirely in France. It lies at an elevation of 14 m , and has a surface area of 56.67 km² ....

, the Lac de Lacanau
Étang de Lacanau
Étang de Lacanau is a lake in Lacanau, Gironde, France. Its surface area is 19.85 km²...

, the Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet
Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet
Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet is a lake in Gironde, Landes, France. At an elevation of 12 m, its surface area is 55 km²....

, the Étang de Biscarrosse
Biscarrosse
Biscarrosse is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France. It is located southwest of Bordeaux, and inland from the seaside resort of Biscarrosse-Plage on the Atlantic coast....

et de Parentis, the Étang d'Aureilhan, the Étang de Léon, the Étang de Soustons, the Étang Hardy, the Étang Blanc and the Étang de Garros. Arcachon Bay is the last water area that remains open to the ocean.
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