Tidal Dam to Rescue Islet from Rising Sediment

摘要

Since the seventh century, Mont-Saint-Michel, a small island off the coast of northwestern France, has been considered among the most breathtaking settings in the world. A rounded hill that rises high enough to overlook the surrounding area, the islet is capped by a picturesque Gothic church and a Benedictine abbey. But today the islet is in danger of losing some of its allure by becoming part of the mainland. A dam built on the Couesnon River in the 1960s has accelerated sedimentation around the islet, and engineers with the Syndicat mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel—an organization that is spearheading efforts to preserve the island—estimate that the site will be reattached to the mainland by 2042 if no action is taken. To save it from this fate, the engineers have designed a system that will prevent more sediment from accumulating and will flush some of the existing sediment back into the bay.