Laholm Bay ( sv, Laholmsbukten) is a bay of the

Kattegat The Kattegat (; sv, Kattegatt ) is a sea area bounded by the Jutlandic peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Skåne in S ...

, between

Tylösand Tylösand is a locality situated in Halmstad Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 399 inhabitants in 2010. It is located 7 km west of Halmstad, on Tyludden. Tylösand is famous for its 7 km long sand beach, its golf courses and “ ...

in the north and

Hovs Hallar Hovs Hallar () is a nature reserve on the northern tip of the Bjäre Peninsula in the county of Skåne, Sweden. It is located approximately northeast of the coastal town of Torekov. The reserve is an area of geological interest and its impress ...

in the south. The Bjäre Peninsula, which forms its southern edge, separates it from

Skälder Bay Skälder Bay ( sv, Skälderviken) is a bay in Skåne County, Sweden. It is an inlet of the Kattegat on the western coast of Scania, located between the Bjäre Peninsula to the north (which separates it from Laholm Bay) and the Kullen Peninsula ...

. The border between

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebr ...

and

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

counties reaches the bay between

Båstad Båstad () is a locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably more than twice as large be ...

and Hemmeslövstrand. The bay is shallow with an average depth of about and a shoreline of about . Mighty dunes separate the beach from the rest of the coastal area. In the greater part of the bay, the bottom consists of sand and clay, with depths of . But a wide strip of rocky bottom, with depths of , extends south-southwestward from the northeastern part of the bay to Hovs Hallar. Along Laholm Bay are several seaside resorts:

, Hemmeslövsstrand, Eskilstorpsstrand,

Skummeslövsstrand Skummeslövsstrand is a locality situated in Laholm Municipality, Halland County, Sweden with 491 inhabitants in 2010. It is a seaside resort on Sweden's west coast and has the country's longest beach (12 km). SKUMMESLÖVSSTRAND is, with 17 ...

, and Mellbystrand, among others. The bay, on the other hand, is named after the Town of

Laholm Laholm () is a town and the seat of Laholm Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 6,527 inhabitants in 2015. Laholm is, despite its small population, for historical reasons often still referred to as a ''city''. The town is located at the ...

, located about inland. The long sandy beach was used in the past as a country road, with bus traffic to Båstad already in the 1930s. Laholm Bay suffers from

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

and related

algal bloom An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems. It is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term ''algae'' encompas ...

s. Since the 1970s, oxygen deficiency has been observed in groundwater. The cause of the environmental issues is thought to be too much nutrients (mainly

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seve ...

from agriculture, forests, and rivers) in relation to the shallow water depth. As of 2005, measures to reduce the supply of nitrogen have not yielded satisfactory results.

References

External links

Bays of Sweden Landforms of Halland County Landforms of Skåne County {{Sweden-geo-stub