The
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of Bock lies in the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
southwest of the island of
Hiddensee
Hiddensee () is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, on the German coast.
The island has about 1,000 inhabitants. It was a holiday destination for East German tourists during German Democratic ...
and east of the
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
of
Zingst
Zingst ( Polabian ''Sgoni'') is the easternmost portion of the three-part Fischland-Darß-Zingst Peninsula, located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, between the cities of Rostock and Stralsund on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea.
Th ...
. It belongs to the municipality of
Groß Mohrdorf
Groß Mohrdorf is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in E ...
in the northeast German state of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...
.
The island of Bock was artificially created by the dumping of sand from the channel to
Stralsund
Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...
(the
Gellenstrom
The Gellenstrom is a shipping channel in the Baltic Sea and forms the northwestern access to the ports of Stralsund and Strelasund. It is located in the Baltic Sea west of the peninsula of Gellen which gives it its name and which forms part of the ...
) and lies within the core zone of the
. It is a
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
and is uninhabited. Its name is derived from the word ''aufgebockt'' ("propped up"). The name arose because many ships ran aground on the former sandbank and thus became "propped up" in a sense. In the west the island is only separated from the
Kleine Werder island group by narrow, shallow watercourses.
Just off the island to the north is one of the few ''
windwatt
A ''Windwatt'' is a mudflat exposed as a result of wind action on water. They occur especially in the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park on Germany's Baltic Sea coast. The term is German. s'' on the German Baltic Sea coast. In favourable wind conditions and the resulting low water levels the
mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
or ''watt'' is exposed.
Islands of Europe
Islands of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Baltic islands
Artificial islands of Germany
Nature reserves in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Vorpommern-Rügen
{{germany-island-stub