Sand is so confusing. I go to one beach and it’s soft sand I go five minutes down the road and is angry sand full of broken shells and hurts my feet, I go to the other side of the country and it’s made of rocks and no sand. I look at photos of the Sahara desert and there is lots of sand and no sea! How does the sand decide where to go?
Also if I brought my digger to the beach and made a big hole would there be dirt under the sand?
In: Planetary Science
The soft sand was probably placed there to form a nice beach if it’s only in one section and everything else is shelly.
Think of sand as a size range of granular materials. It can be small pieces of rock or shells, hence seeing different types.
Wave action will break down rock to sand over time. So if you’re on a rocky beach, it’s probably relatively new. Additionally, the waves and currents may also be moving the sand to another location so you won’t see much of it.
Wind can also move sand, although it tends to be in much smaller pieces since the wind doesn’t have as much energy as a wave does. You can also tell how much sand has moved based on how angular or rounded it is. Sand that has moved a long way will be rounded where it’s been moved over and around other materials. An angular sand will be closer to its original location. Where it goes is like anything else, it relies on energy moving it. It goes where the wind or wave takes it. You can learn the currents and patterns to get an idea of where it should be going, but it’s kind of a weird science and you never have all the data you really need.
There’s no one thing underlying all beaches, but you won’t hit dirt. You may hit mud or seashells, you’ll eventually hit rock. The depth varies depending on the location.
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