located_on_terrain_feature baltrum
Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the ___MASK6___ coast . They usually occur in chains , consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen . They are subject to change during storms and other action , but absorb energy and protect the coastlines and create areas of protected waters where wetlands may flourish . A barrier chain may extend uninterrupted for over a hundred kilometers , excepting the tidal inlets that separate the islands , the longest and widest being Padre Island of Texas . The length and width of barriers and overall morphology of barrier coasts are related to parameters including tidal range , wave energy , sediment supply , sea - level trends , and basement controls . Padre Island is the largest of the Texas barrier islands and is the world ' s longest barrier island . It is part of the U . S . state of Texas . The island is located along Texas ' southern ___MASK46___ of the Gulf of Mexico and is noted for its white sandy beaches at the south end . Meaning " father " in Spanish , it was named after Father José Nicolás Ballí ( c . 1770 - 1829 ), who owned the island and served as a missionary priest and collector of finances for all the churches in the Rio Grande Valley . He also founded the first mission in present - day Cameron County . Mudflats or mud flats , also known as tidal flats , are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers . They are found in sheltered areas such as bays , bayous , lagoons , and estuaries . Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud , resulting from deposition of estuarine silts , clays and marine animal detritus . Most of the sediment within a mudflat is within the ___MASK82___ , and thus the flat is submerged and exposed approximately twice daily . Munich ( also in British English ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Bavaria , on the banks of River ___MASK80___ north of the Bavarian Alps . Munich is the third largest city in Germany , after Berlin and Hamburg , and the 12th biggest city of the European Union , with a population of above 1 . 5 million . The Munich Metropolitan Region is home to 5 . 8 million people . Berlin is the capital and the largest city of ___MASK87___ as well as one of its constituent 16 states . With a population of approximately 3 . 5 million people , Berlin is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union . Located in northeastern ___MASK87___ on the banks of rivers Spree and Havel , it is the centre of the Berlin - ___MASK62___ Metropolitan Region , which has about 6 million residents from more than 180 nations . Due to its location in the European Plain , Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate . Around one - third of the city ' s area is composed of forests , parks , gardens , rivers and lakes . Friesland ( official ) or Frisia is a province in the northwest of the Netherlands . It is situated west of Groningen , northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel , north of Flevoland , northeast of North Holland , and south of the ___MASK34___ . In 2010 , the province had a population of 646 , 000 and a total area of . Stuttgart ( Swabian : " Schduagert "), often nicknamed the "" Schwabenmetropole "" in reference to its location in the center of ___MASK12___ and the local dialect spoken by some natives , is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden - Württemberg . It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley locally known as the " Stuttgarter Kessel " an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest . Stuttgart ' s name comes from the Old High German word "" Stuogarten "," or " stud farm "  a reference to the city ' s founding in 950 AD as a stud farm . Stuttgart  s urban area has a population of 623 , 738 , and a further making it the sixth largest city in Germany , 2 . 7 million people live in the city  s administrative region , and another 5 . 3 million people in its metropolitan area , making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany . The tidal range is the vertical difference between the high tide and the succeeding low tide . Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the ___MASK13___ and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth . The tidal range is not constant , but changes depending on where the sun and the ___MASK13___ are . Schleswig - Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 states of ___MASK87___ , comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig . Its capital city is Kiel ; other notable cities are Lübeck and Flensburg . ___MASK60___ ( local pronunciation ; Low German / Low Saxon : " Hamborg " ), officially " Freie und Hansestadt ___MASK60___ " ( Free and Hanseatic City of ___MASK60___ ), is the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest city in the European Union . It is the second smallest German state by area . Its population is over 1 . 7 million people , and the wider ___MASK60___ Metropolitan Region covers more than 5 . 1 million inhabitants . The city is situated on the river Elbe . Düsseldorf ( Low Franconian , Ripuarian : " Düsseldörp " ) is the capital city of the German state of North ___MASK18___ - Westphalia and the seventh most populous city in Germany . Düsseldorf is an international business and financial centre , renowned for its fashion and trade fairs . The city is headquarters to one Fortune Global 500 and two DAX companies . Messe Düsseldorf organises nearly one fifth of premier trade shows . ___MASK47___ is a German state (" Bundesland ") situated in northwestern ___MASK87___ and is second in area , with , and fourth in population ( 8 million ) among the sixteen " Länder " of ___MASK87___ . In rural areas Northern Low Saxon , a dialect of Low German , and Saterland Frisian , a variety of Frisian , are still spoken , but the number of speakers is declining . West Frisia or West Friesland is along with ___MASK49___ and North Frisia one of the most commonly used subdivisions of Frisia . Low German or Low Saxon ( or in the wider sense ) is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in ___MASK74___ and the eastern part of the Netherlands . It is descended from Old Saxon in its earliest form . The Weser is a river in Northwestern ___MASK87___ . Formed at Hannoversch Münden by the confluence of the rivers Fulda and Werra , it flows through ___MASK47___ , then reaching the Hanseatic - town Bremen ( see : Hanseatic League ), before emptying further north at Bremerhaven into the ___MASK34___ . On the opposite ( west ) bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula ; thus , the mouth of the river is in ___MASK47___ . The Weser has an overall length of . Together with its Werra tributary , which originates in Thuringia , its length is . The Netherlands is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . It is a densely populated country located in ___MASK1___ with three island territories in the ___MASK15___ . The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east , Belgium to the south , and the ___MASK34___ to the northwest , sharing maritime borders with Belgium , the United Kingdom , and Germany . The largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam , Rotterdam , The Hague and Utrecht . Amsterdam is the country ' s capital , while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of government and parliament . The name " Holland " is used to refer informally to the whole of the country of the Netherlands . ___MASK49___ or Eastern Friesland ( East Frisian Low Saxon : " Oostfreesland ") is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of ___MASK47___ . It is the middle section of Frisia between West Frisia in the Netherlands and North Frisia in Schleswig - Holstein . The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked federal state of ___MASK87___ , bordering the federal states of ___MASK62___ , Saxony Anhalt , Thuringia , and Bavaria , as well as the countries of Poland ( Lower Silesian and Lubusz Voivodeships ) and the Czech Republic ( Karlovy Vary , Liberec and Ústí nad Labem Regions ). Its capital is Dresden , and its largest city is Leipzig . Frisia or Friesland is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the ___MASK34___ in what today is mostly a large part of the Netherlands , including modern Friesland , and smaller parts of Germany . Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians , a Germanic people that speaks Frisian languages , which together with English form the Anglo - Frisian language group . An island or isle is any piece of sub - continental land that is surrounded by water . Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets , skerries , cays or keys . An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait , and a small island off the ___MASK46___ may be called a holm . A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago , e . g . the Philippines . The East Frisian Islands ( German : " Ostfriesische Inseln ", Frisian : " Eastfryske eilannen ") are a chain of islands in the ___MASK34___ , off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony , Germany . The islands extend for some from west to east between the mouths of the Ems and Jade / Weser rivers and lie about 3 . 5 to 10 km offshore . Between the islands and the mainland are extensive mudflats , known locally as " Watten ", which form part of the Wadden Sea . In front of the islands are Germany ' s territorial waters , which occupy a much larger area than the islands themselves . The islands , the surrounding mudflats and the territorial waters ( The " Küstenmeer vor den ostfriesischen Inseln " nature reserve ) form a close ecological relationship . The island group makes up about 5 % of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park . Cologne is the largest city in the German federal State of North ___MASK18___ - Westphalia and the fourth - largest city in Germany ( after Berlin , ___MASK60___ , and Munich ). It is located within the ___MASK18___ - ___MASK67___ metropolitan region , one of the major European metropolitan regions and the largest in Germany , with more than ten million inhabitants . ___MASK87___ , officially the Federal Republic of ___MASK87___ , is a federal parliamentary republic in central - western Europe . It includes 16 constituent states , covers an area of , and has a largely temperate seasonal climate . With about 82 million inhabitants , ___MASK87___ is the most populous member state of the European Union . After the United States , it is the second most popular immigration destination in the world . ___MASK87___ ' s capital and largest metropolis is Berlin . Other major cities include ___MASK60___ , Munich , Cologne , Frankfurt , Stuttgart and Düsseldorf . North Frisia or Northern Friesland is the northernmost portion of Frisia , located primarily in ___MASK87___ between the rivers Eider and Wiedau / Vidå . It includes a number of islands , e . g ., ___MASK39___ , Föhr , ___MASK50___ , Nordstrand , and ___MASK25___ . The euro ( sign : €; code : EUR ) is the official currency of the eurozone , which consists of 19 of the member states of the European Union : Austria , ___MASK4___ , ___MASK23___ , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , ___MASK33___ , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , the Netherlands , Portugal , ___MASK92___ , Slovenia , and Spain . The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries , as well as unilaterally by two others , and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans . Outside of Europe , a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency . The ___MASK34___ is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain , Scandinavia , Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium , and France . An epeiric ( or " shelf ") sea on the European continental shelf , it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north . It is more than long and wide , with an area of around . ___MASK2___ is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of ___MASK86___ . ___MASK2___ is bordered by the ___MASK64___ to the north , the ___MASK72___ to the west , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . To the east and southeast , ___MASK2___ is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains , the Ural River , the Caspian and Black Seas , and the waterways of the Turkish Straits . Yet the non - oceanic borders of ___MASK2___  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " continent " as applied to ___MASK2___ also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent ' s current overland boundaries . Baltrum is a barrier island off the ___MASK46___ of East Frisia ( German : Ostfriesland ) , in Germany , and is a municipality in the district of Aurich , Lower Saxony . It is located in - between the chain of the seven inhabited East Frisian Islands . Baltrum is the smallest island in this chain by area and inhabitants . It has a land area of 6 . 5 square kilometres , and a population in ( 2011 ) of just over 500 resident inhabitants . The European Union ( EU ) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in ___MASK2___ . It has an area of , and an estimated population of over 510 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services , and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs , and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries , and regional development . Within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . East Frisian Low Saxon is one of the Friso - Saxon dialects , a West Low German dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern ___MASK47___ . It is used quite frequently in everyday speech there . About half of the East Frisian population in the coastal region uses " Platdüütsk ". A number of individuals , despite not being active speakers of Low Saxon , are able to understand it to some extent . However , both active and passive language skills are in a state of decrease . Frankfurt am Main is a metropolis and the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth - largest city in ___MASK87___ , with a 2015 population of 731 , 095 within its administrative boundaries , and 2 . 3 million in its urban area . The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt ___MASK18___ - Main Metropolitan Region , which has a population of 5 . 8 million and is ___MASK87___ ' s second - largest metropolitan region after ___MASK18___ - ___MASK67___ . Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013 , the geographic centre of the EU is about to the east of Frankfurt ' s CBD , the Bankenviertel . Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse , with around half of the population , and a majority of young people , having a migration background . A quarter of the population are foreign nationals , including many expatriates .