This is a photo of my niece Jessie, her husband Tyler and their children Lincoln and Millie taken on a beach in Florida. Ah! the beach life, could there be anything better? I am much more of a beach person than a mountain person. I will go snow skiing, but I don’t particularly care for carrying the skis and poles plus wearing the heavy ski boots. I would much rather have a tote full of towels and sunscreen. I have taken two trips by myself (with friends joining me occasionally) — up and down the California coast and up and down the Florida coast. During the Florida trip, it rained a lot. So, didn’t get to actually set foot on many beaches except in Miami and Siesta Key, but enjoyed visiting Naples, Fort Myers and Fort Pierce. I had some truly memorable weather on the California trip, visiting beaches in Santa Monica, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Carmel, Monterey and the Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery in Cambria. There is just something about a beach that speaks to my soul. Let’s learn more about them.
According to Wikipedia, a beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells or coralline algae. Sediments settle in different densities and structures, depending on the local wave action and weather, creating different textures, colors and gradients or layers of material.
Though some beaches form on freshwater locations, most beaches are in coastal areas where wave or current action deposits and reworks sediments. Erosion and changing of beach geologies happens through natural processes, like wave action and extreme weather events. Where wind conditions are correct, beaches can be backed by coastal dunes which offer protection and regeneration for the beach. However, these natural forces have become more extreme due to climate change, permanently altering beaches at very rapid rates. Some estimates describe as much as 50% of the earth's sandy beaches disappearing by 2100 due to climate-change driven sea level rise.
Sandy beaches occupy about one third of global coastlines. These beaches are popular for recreation, playing important economic and cultural roles — often driving local tourism industries. To support these uses, some beaches have manmade infrastructure, such as lifeguard posts, changing rooms, showers, shacks and bars. They may also have hospitality venues — such as resorts, camps, hotels and restaurants — nearby or housing, both for permanent and seasonal residents.
Human forces have significantly changed beaches globally: direct impacts include bad construction practices on dunes and coastlines, while indirect human impacts include water pollution, plastic pollution and coastal erosion from sea level rise and climate change. Some coastal management practices are designed to preserve or restore natural beach processes, while some beaches are actively restored through practices like beach nourishment.
Wild beaches, also known as undeveloped or undiscovered beaches, are not developed for tourism or recreation. Preserved beaches are important biomes with important roles in aquatic or marine biodiversity, such as for breeding grounds for sea turtles or nesting areas for seabirds or penguins. Preserved beaches and their associated dunes are important for protection from extreme weather for inland ecosystems and human infrastructure.
Formation
Beaches are the result of wave action by which waves or currents move sand or other loose sediments of which the beach is made as these particles are held in suspension. Alternatively, sand may be moved by saltation, a bouncing movement of large particles. Beach materials come from erosion of rocks offshore, as well as from headland erosion and slumping producing deposits of scree. A coral reef offshore is a significant source of sand particles. Some species of fish that feed on algae attached to coral outcrops and rocks can create substantial quantities of sand particles over their lifetime as they nibble during feeding, digesting the organic matter and discarding the rock and coral particles which pass through their digestive tracts.
The composition of the beach depends upon the nature and quantity of sediments upstream of the beach, and the speed of flow and turbidity of water and wind. Sediments are moved by moving water and wind according to their particle size and state of compaction. Particles tend to settle and compact in still water. Once compacted, they are more resistant to erosion. Established vegetation — especially species with complex network root systems — will resist erosion by slowing the fluid flow at the surface layer. When affected by moving water or wind, particles that are eroded and held in suspension will increase the erosive power of the fluid that holds them by increasing the average density, viscosity and volume of the moving fluid.
Coastlines facing very energetic wind and wave systems will tend to hold only large rocks as smaller particles will be held in suspension in the turbid water column and carried to calmer areas by longshore currents and tides. Coastlines that are protected from waves and winds will tend to allow finer sediments such as clay and mud to precipitate creating mud flats and mangrove forests. The shape of a beach depends on whether the waves are constructive or destructive, and whether the material is sand or shingle. Waves are constructive if the period between their wave crests is long enough for the breaking water to recede and the sediment to settle before the succeeding wave arrives and breaks.
Fine sediment transported from lower down the beach profile will compact if the receding water percolates or soaks into the beach. Compacted sediment is more resistant to movement by turbulent water from succeeding waves. Conversely, waves are destructive if the period between the wave crests is short. Sediment that remains in suspension when the following wave crest arrives will not be able to settle and compact and will be more susceptible to erosion by longshore currents and receding tides. The nature of sediments found on a beach tends to indicate the energy of the waves and wind in the locality.
Constructive waves move material up the beach while destructive waves move the material down the beach. During seasons when destructive waves are prevalent, the shallows will carry an increased load of sediment and organic matter in suspension. On sandy beaches, the turbulent backwash of destructive waves removes material forming a gently sloping beach. On pebble and shingle beaches the swash is dissipated more quickly because the large particle size allows greater percolation, thereby reducing the power of the backwash, and the beach remains steep. Compacted fine sediments will form a smooth beach surface that resists wind and water erosion.
During hot calm seasons, a crust may form on the surface of ocean beaches as the heat of the sun evaporates the water leaving the salt which crystallizes around the sand particles. This crust forms an additional protective layer that resists wind erosion unless disturbed by animals or dissolved by the advancing tide. Cusps and horns form where incoming waves divide, depositing sand as horns and scouring out sand to form cusps. This forms the uneven face on some sand shorelines. White sand beaches look white because the quartz or eroded limestone in the sand reflects or scatters sunlight without absorbing other colors.
Sand colors
The composition of the sand varies depending on the local minerals and geology. Some of the types of sand found in beaches around the world are:
· White sand: Mostly made of quartz and limestone , it can also contain other minerals like feldspar and
· Light-colored sand: This sand gets its color from quartz and iron, and is the most common sand color in Southern Europe and other regions of the Mediterranean Basin, such as Tunisia.
· Tropical white sand: On tropical islands, the sand is composed of calcium carbonate from the shells and skeletons of marine organisms, like corals and mollusks, as found in Aruba.
· Pink coral sand: Like white sand, it is composed of calcium carbonate and gets its pink hue from fragments of coral, such as in Bermuda and the Bahama Islands.
· Black sand: Black sand is composed of
volcanic rock, like basalt and obsidian, which give it its gray-black color. Hawaii's
Formosa and Fuerteventura's Ajuy beach are examples of this type of sand.
· Red sand: This kind of sand is created by the oxidation of iron from volcanic rocks. Santorini 's Kokkini Beach or the beaches on Prince Edward Island in Canada are examples of this kind of sand.
· Orange sand: Orange sand is high in iron. It can also be a combination of orange limestone, crushed shells and volcanic deposits. Ramla Bay in Gozo, Malta or Porto Ferro in Sardinia are examples of each, respectively.
· Green sand: In this kind of sand, the mineral olivine has been separated from other volcanic fragments by erosive forces. A famous example is Hawaii's
Papakolea Beach, which has sand containing basalt and coral fragments. Olivine beaches have high potential for
carbon sequestration, and artificial greensand beaches are being explored for this process by Project Vesta, a nonprofit promoting accelerated
weathering of volcanic olivine as a climate drawdown strategy in order to
capture carbon absorbed in the world’s oceans.
History
Even in Roman times, wealthy people spent their free time on the coast. They also built large villa complexes with bathing facilities — so-called maritime villas — in particularly beautiful locations. Excavations of Roman architecture can still be found today, for example in Italy on the Amalfi Coast near Naples and in Barcola in Trieste.
The development of the beach as a popular leisure resort from the mid-19th century was the first manifestation of what is now the global tourist industry. The first seaside resorts were opened in the 18th century for the aristocracy who began to frequent the seaside, as well as the then fashionable spa towns, for recreation and health. One of the earliest such seaside resorts, was Scarborough in Yorkshire during the 1720s; it had been a fashionable spa town since a stream of acidic water was discovered running from one of the cliffs to the south of the town in the 17th century. The first rolling bathing machines were introduced by 1735.
The opening of the resort in Brighton, 47 miles south of London, and its reception of royal patronage from King George IV extended the seaside as a resort for health and pleasure to the much larger London market, and the beach became a center for upper-class pleasure and frivolity. This trend was praised and artistically elevated by the new romantic ideal of the picturesque landscape; Jane Austen's unfinished novel “Sanditon” is an example of that. Later, Queen Victoria's long-standing patronage of the Isle of Wight and Ramsgate in Kent ensured that a seaside residence was considered as a highly fashionable possession for those wealthy enough to afford more than one home.
The extension of this form of leisure to the middle and working classes began with the development of the railways in the 1840s, which offered cheap fares to fast-growing resort towns. In particular, the completion of a branch line to the small seaside town of Blackpool from Poulton led to a sustained economic and demographic boom. A sudden influx of visitors, arriving by rail, led entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and a rapid cycle of growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s.
The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire cotton mill owners of closing the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as wakes weeks. Each town's mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer. A prominent feature of the resort was the promenade and the pleasure piers, where an eclectic variety of performances vied for the people's attention. In 1863, the North Pier in Blackpool was completed, rapidly becoming a center of attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor.
Many of the popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines, because even the all-covering beachwear of the period was considered immodest. By the end of the century, the English coastline had over 100 large resort towns, some with populations exceeding 50,000.
The development of the seaside resort abroad was stimulated by the well-developed English love of the beach. The French Riviera alongside the Mediterranean had already become a popular destination for the British upper class by the end of the 18th century. In 1864, the first railway to Nice was completed, making the Riviera accessible to visitors from all over Europe. By 1874, residents of foreign enclaves in Nice, most of whom were British, numbered 25,000. The coastline became renowned for attracting the royalty of Europe, including Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.
Continental European attitudes towards gambling and nakedness tended to be more lax than in Britain, so British and French entrepreneurs were quick to exploit the possibilities. In 1863, Charles III, Prince of Monaco, and François Blanc, a French businessman, arranged for steamships and carriages to take visitors from Nice to Monaco, where large luxury hotels, gardens and casinos were built. The place was renamed Monte Carlo.
Commercial sea bathing spread to the United States and parts of the British Empire by the end of the 19th century. The first public beach in the United States was Revere Beach, which opened in 1896. During that same time, Henry Flagler developed the Florida East Coast Railway, which linked the coastal sea resorts developing at St. Augustine and Miami Beach, Florida, to winter travelers from the northern United States and Canada on the East Coast Railway. By the early 20th century, surfing was developed in Hawaii and Australia; it spread to southern California by the early 1960s. By the 1970s, cheap and affordable air travel led to the growth of a truly global tourism market which benefited areas such as the Mediterranean, Australia, South Africa, and the coastal Sun Belt regions of the United States.
Today
Beaches can be popular on warm sunny days. In the Victorian era, many popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines because even the all-covering beachwear of the period was considered immodest. This social standard still prevails in many Muslim countries. At the other end of the spectrum are topfree beaches and nude beaches where clothing is optional or not allowed. In most countries social norms are significantly different on a beach in hot weather, compared to adjacent areas where similar behavior might not be tolerated and might even be prosecuted.
In more than thirty countries in Europe, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Costa Rica, South America and the Caribbean, the best recreational beaches are awarded Blue Flag status, based on such criteria as water quality and safety provision. Subsequent loss of this status can have a severe effect on tourism revenues.
Beaches are often dumping grounds for waste and litter, necessitating the use of beach cleaners and other cleanup projects. More significantly, many beaches are a discharge zone for untreated sewage in most underdeveloped countries; even in developed countries beach closure is an occasional circumstance due to sanitary sewer overflow. In these cases of marine discharge, waterborne disease from fecal pathogens and contamination of certain marine species are a frequent outcome.
Artificial beaches
Some beaches are artificial; they are either permanent or temporary. There are examples in Monaco, Paris, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Nottingham, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tianjin, China.
The soothing qualities of a beach and the pleasant environment offered to the beachgoer are replicated in artificial beaches, such as "beach-style" pools with zero-depth entry and wave pools that recreate the natural waves pounding upon a beach. In a zero-depth entry pool, the bottom surface slopes gradually from above water down to depth. Another approach involves so-called urban beaches, a form of public park becoming common in large cities. Urban beaches attempt to mimic natural beaches with fountains that imitate surf and mask city noises, and in some cases can be used as a play park.
Beach nourishment involves pumping sand onto beaches to improve their health. Beach nourishment is common for major beach cities around the world; however, the beaches that have been nourished can still appear quite natural and often many visitors are unaware of the works undertaken to support the health of the beach. Such beaches are often not recognized by consumers as artificial. A famous example of beach nourishment came with the replenishment of Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, where sand from Manhattan Beach, California was transported via ship and barge throughout most of the 20th century in order to combat Waikiki's erosion problems. The Surfrider Foundation has debated the merits of artificial reefs with members torn between their desire to support natural coastal environments and opportunities to enhance the quality of surfing waves. Similar debates surround beach nourishment and snow cannon in sensitive environments.
Beaches that will crush it on your social media feed
According to Laura Begley Bloom’s Nov. 27, 2017 article “The World’s 50 Best Beaches, Ranked, Plus 6 Getaways Millennials Will Love” in Forbes, when FlightNetwork, a Canadian travel website, recently released its list of the 50 best beaches in the world, ranked by 632 top travel professionals — including journalists, editors and bloggers — we couldn’t help but notice how many of the spots were made for Instagram. Here are our picks for the six beaches that will crush it on your social media feed.
Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Australia
Instagram Appeal: Best viewed from above in a helicopter or seaplane, this spectacular beach is made up of swirls of white sand and aqua water. A search for the hashtag #whitehavenbeach on Instagram reveals an impressive 110,135 posts and myriad selfies.
Fun Fact: The sand here is composed of 98% silica, making it some of the whitest on earth — and the coolest. The sand doesn’t get hot in the sun.
Travel Tips: An affordable way to see Whitehaven Beach and the surrounding islands is to take a sailing trip with a company like OzSail, which runs two-night itineraries on former racing vessels. If you can’t afford a seaplane or helicopter ride over Whitehaven Beach, make your way to Tongue Point, where a trail leads to a lookout. You can also pitch a tent at a campsite on the edge of the three-mile-long beach.
Pink Sands Beach, Harbour Island, Bahamas
Instagram Appeal: Yes, the sand here really is pink, and it stretches for over three miles, contrasting with the vivid blue water.
Fun Fact: The beach gets its hue from microscopic shelled animals with a reddish-pink shell called foraminifera, which are mixed into the sand along with coral, shells and calcium carbonate.
Travel Tips: If you’re going to Pink Sands Beach, there’s no better place to stay than Pink Sands Resort, set right on the rosy shores.
Hidden Beach, Islas Marietas, Mexico
Instagram Appeal: It takes work to get to Hidden Beach, which is set inside a cave with a massive hole to the sky. You need to take a boat here, then swim or kayak through a tunnel.
Fun Fact: Many people believe that this beach’s unique formation was created due to bombings by the Mexican government beginning in the 1900s.
Travel Tips: Most travelers get here via a one-hour-long boat trip from Puerto Vallarta. But it’s better to stay in the beach town of Punta Mita, since the Marietas are just off the coast. You can hire a panga, a small fishing boat, in Punta Mita.
Pig Beach, Exumas, Bahamas
Instagram Appeal: Pig Beach — located on Big Major Cay in the Exumas — is the only place in the world where you can swim with wild pigs.
Fun Fact: According to Travel + Leisure, there are many legends about how the pigs got here, from “a tale about a shipwreck to one about hungry pirates who dropped them off and never made it back for their meal.”
Travel Tips: Pig Beach is reachable only by boat, and it’s a smart idea to get here as early as possible, before the crowds arrive and when the pigs are still full of energy. The best place to stay is Fowl Cay Resort, where a boat rental is included in the price.
Lucky Bay, Australia
Instagram Appeal: Sure, there’s stunning white sand and vivid blue water, but the real reason to come to Lucky Bay is to get a snap of the resident kangaroos, hopping around on the beach.
Fun Fact: Keep an eye out — you might also spot migrating whales off the coast.
Travel Tips: This is an isolated area without many hotels, but lucky for travelers, it’s located within a national park that has nearby camping sites for rent.
Reynisfjara Beach, Iceland
Instagram Appeal: Iceland’s current explosion of tourism has been well documented. But skip the crowded Blue Lagoon and head to Reynisfjara Beach, a dramatic black sand beach made from lava.
Fun Fact: According to local folklore, the rocky sea stacks that sit offshore were once trolls that tried to lure ships from the ocean.
Travel Tips: If you want to make the most of a visit here, spend the night in the nearby town of Vik and arrive at sunrise. It’s the most beautiful time of day — plus, you can avoid the Ring Road day trippers.
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