The northwestern bulletin., 1923-12-01
SAND FORMATION
TAKES CENTURIES
SheIIfish Aid Mother Nature IN
Long Process Of Cutting
Huge Cliffs.


ready-made article. nor does 1t find
Its way to the beach In q haphazard
way. Sand Is one Of natures most
finished products. II Is the result Of
countless thousands Of years Of cease
less work and wondrous compound
Of a myriad Ingredients.
The microscope reveals to the scien-
fist that no two sands are quite alike.
though they may look and feel much
the same as you walk over them.
Take a handful OF that which sur
rounds you and spread 1t out and ex-
anime carefully the tiny particles Of
which II consists. Many will be lit
tie stones. Others are fragments Of
shells. And II you have sharp eyes
you may find among them numbers
Of beautiful unbroken shells. varying
In size from that Of the smallest pins
head to that of pea.
Shells Under Microscope.
The smallest shells must be seen
under a magnifying glass before
their full beauty can be appreciated.
They are the discarded homes Of tiny
creatures who wormed them into per.
feet cups and twists and spirals and
had the skill, even In the small space
available to introduce wondrous
scheme of gay colors.
The stones are infinite In their va
riety. As the sun falls upon them
they glitter and fash like so many
Jewels. Many Of them are Jewels
little chips Of the less precious
stones, such as carnelian and the diff
ferent crystals. Others are quartz.
flint or granite. But you will notice
one thing about all of them-their
edges are beautifully smooth. That
barefoot over the shore. for the tiny,
rounded grains feel as soft as q car
pet.
What is nAtlre's method Of making
this mixture? Briefly. geology ex-
plains II as follows: She huris the
waters Of the sea at the feet Of the
great cliffs which guard the land. The
force Of tides and storms Is so ire
sistible that as attack follows attack
the stoutest rocks are clipped and
cracked
To aid the waters she makes use-of
boring shellfsh, whose file-like tongues
weaken the stones by eating tunnels
into them. As the centuries pass
and time to nature Is a thing that does
not matter-fragments large and small
are torn from the rocks and fall to the
beach below.
Battered Against cIIffs.
Here they are rolled and ground
and ratified against each other by the
tides, being split gradually into
smaller pieces and having all their
edges worn smooth by their constant
movement. Once few chips have
been wreEched from the cliffs the
work of the tides become easier The
water picks up these fragments and
hurls them like battering rams at the
rocks.
And now nature begins to sort out
her ingredients and arrange the
stones SO that they are graduated In
order of size. You will find close to
the cliffs a coarse gravel composed Of
stones as big as oranges. Nearer the
waters edge they grow less and less
in size. Coarse gravel Is followed by
fine. and fine gravel by sand.
As the stones are split and torn the
larger fragments resist the pull Of the
water and therefore remain close to
the cliffs and the smaller ones roll
farther and farther out with receding
tides. During a storm the waters of
sandy bay may look like pea soup.
owing TO the tiny fragments they are
carrying.
In some places the tides pick up
the sand and remove II as fast as II
Is made, carrying 1t away, to deposit
II on other beaches. That Is why some
shores are sandy while others are not.
And when nature lays down her car
pet Of sand she mingies with It the
shells great and small for which her
tiny creatures have no further use.