Pluimpot

The Pluimpot is now recognizable in the landscape as a higher ridge that runs from north to south through Tholen. Because the land in this tidal channel was diked much later than the surrounding polders, the tide was able to deposit sand here longer than in the surrounding polders. The difference in relief is reinforced by the fact that the subsoil outside the tidal channel is subject to subsidence due to clay settling and the compression and decay of the peat in the subsoil over time. At the site of the former Pluimpot channel, the peat layer has been swept away by the tides and the sandy subsoil is much less susceptible to subsidence.

Along the Pluimpot, several dike breaches have occurred over the centuries. Often the land directly behind the dike breach is somewhat higher than the polder land around it. Such higher areas are called overburden. These transfer grounds form because water flowing into the polder brings sediment (sand and clay) with it. Sediment comes from the tidal channel from which the dike breach forms and from the whirlpool (weel) that forms directly behind the breach. Sand and clay are therefore deposited around the dike breach and slightly elevate the polder land immediately behind the breach.