Salt Marshes:Reclamation, Arable and Pastoral
Mont-Saint-Michel began as an isolated rock remaining emergent from the bay as rising sea levels inundated the land. To the south, the bay is bordered by salt marshes and vast expanses of grass that are covered during high tide. The agricultural landscape beyond has been fashioned by dykes and polders. For about a thousand years, man has reclaimed land from the sea, then desalinated it and drained it to take advantage of the excellent quality of the marine soil, and they become polder. Polder increased the economic benefits of local crops but destroyed mudflats and salt marshes.
This mysterious experiment so that Mont-Saint-Michel of place as the central feature of the bay, these extended landscapes amid a seascape of sands constantly being reclaimed by tidal and sea.