Beach

A beach or strand is a geology formation consisting of loose Rock (geology) particles such as sand, shingle, cobble, or even shell along the shoreline of a body of water. ==Components== Some geologists consider a beach to be just this shoreline feature of deposited material, but William Bascom (1980) has argued that a beach is the entire system of sand set in motion by waves to a depth of ten meters (30+ feet) or more off ocean coasts. Submerged, longshore bars are therefore also part of the beach. In the Bascom approach, beaches can be viewed as either * small systems in which the rock material moves onshore, offshore, or alongshore by the forces of waves and currents; or * geological units of considerable size. The former are described in detail below; the larger geological units are discussed elsewhere in Wikipedia under bar (landform). Both types can be viewed as "beaches." [[Image:Beach_Dune.jpg|thumb|left|270px|Lanikai Beach on Oahu. This gently-sloping beach face is topped by a beach crest onto which a salt-tolerant grass (''Sporobolus virginicus'') is spreading from the incipient dune]] There are several conspicuous parts to a beach, all of which relate to the processes that form and shape it. That part mostly above water (depending upon tide), and more or less actively influenced by the waves at some point in the tide, is termed the beach berm. The berm is the deposit of material comprising the active shoreline. The berm has a crest (top) and a face — the latter being the slope leading down towards the water from the crest. At the very bottom of the face, there may be a trough, and further seaward one or more longshore bars: slightly raised, underwater embankments formed where the waves first start to break. The sand deposit may extend well inland from the ''berm crest'', where there may be evidence of one or more older crests (the storm beach) resulting from very large storm waves and beyond the influence of the normal waves. At some point the influence of the waves (even storm waves) on the material comprising the beach stops, and if the particles are small enough (that is, are sand), winds shape the feature. Where wind is the force distributing the grains inland, the deposit behind the beach becomes a dune. The line between beach and dune is difficult to define in the field. Over any significant period of time, sand is always being exchanged between them. The drift line (the high point of material deposited by waves) is one potential demarcation. This would be the point at which significant wind movement of sand could occur, since the normal waves do not wet the sand beyond this area. However, the drift line is likely to move inland under assault by storm waves.
==How beaches are formed== Beaches are deposition (geology) landforms, and are the result of wave action by which waves or current (water) move sand or other loose sediments of which the beach is made as these particles are held in suspension (chemistry). 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 reef offshore is a significant source of sand particles. The shape of a beach depends on whether the waves are constructive or destructive, and whether the material is sand or shingle. Constructive waves move material up the beach while destructive waves move the material down the beach. On sandy beaches, the backwash of the waves removes material forming a gently sloping beach. On shingle beaches the swash is dissipated because the large particle size allows percolation, so the backwash is not very powerful, and the beach remains steep. Cusps and horns form where incoming waves divide, depositing sand as horns and scouring out sand to form cusps. This forms the uneven edge of a sandy beach. Some beaches are artificial; they are either permanent or temporary (For examples see Monaco, Paris, Rotterdam, Beaches of Hong Kong and Beaches of Singapore). There are several beaches which are claimed to be the "World's longest", including Cox's Bazar (120kms), Fraiser Island beach, Ninety Mile Beach, Victoria in Australia and Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand in New Zealand and Long Beach, Washington (which is about 30km). Wasaga Beach, Ontario on Georgian Bay claims to have the world's longest freshwater beach. The Marina Beach at Chennai, India, is the second longest beach in the world. == Beaches and recreation == Beaches have long been a popular attraction for tourism and recreation. Especially popular are seaside resorts and large white sand beaches. Of course, residents and tourists alike use beaches as a place for leisure and sport. The relatively soft formation of sand is comfortable to sit or lie on, and entering and exiting the water is far easier across a sand beach than a rocky shore. The waves present at beaches add to the enjoyment and make the sport of body surfing and related activities possible. One of the many attractions of a sand beach, especially for children, is playing with the sand, building Sand art and plays and other constructs. Oahu">image:SunsetBeach.jpg|thumb|300px|A beach is a popular form of recreational \"park\"; here, Sunset Beach Park on Oahu Towels and mats are typical beach "furniture". In the Victorian era, many popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines because even the all-covering swimsuit of the period was considered immodest. This social standard still prevails in some Muslim countries. At the other extreme are nudist beaches, where swimware of any kind is discouraged. === Artificial beaches === 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. === Sounds of the Beach === Beaches are noted for their sometimes serene stillness and the rhythmic sound made by waves crashing upon the sand. To experience, listen to this sound file media:Beach.ogg made on a South Carolina beach at night. == Beaches as habitat == A beach is an unstable environment which exposes plants and animals to harsh conditions. Some small animals burrow into the sand and feed on material deposited by the waves. Crabs, insects and shorebirds feed on these beach dwellers. The endangered Piping Plover and some tern species rely on beaches for nesting. Sea turtles also lay their eggs on ocean beaches. Seagrasses and other beach plants grow on undisturbed areas of the beach and dunes. ==See also== *List of beaches *Beach cricket *Beach volleyball *Coast *Dune buggy *Nude beach *Pier *The Beach Boys *The Shore *Urban beach ==Reference== [[Image:Beach - Crete.jpg|thumb|Beach in Crete, Greece]] *Bascom, W. 1980. ''Waves and Beaches''. Anchor Press/Doubleday, Garden City, New York. 366 p. ==External sites== *[http://www.unesco.org/csi/pub/source/ero9.htm UNESCO Beach erosion & formation] *[http://www.nearctica.com/ecology/habitats/beaches.htm Beach habitats] Landforms simple:Beach

Beach

I just wanted to let it be known that I greatly expanded the list from various online sources. I tried to sift through tourism sites that had a blatant conflict of interest in promoting certain beaches, but I may have failed. Also, some had ambiguous punctuation leading to uncertainty about what was a beach in which division of what island belong to which country. So some of all that may be wrong, and I won't be offended if it needs to be changed. User:Tokerboy 05:21 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC) ---- Would I sound too strict if I remarked that (a) the bit about getting changed is not really encyclopaedic and that (b) the photo, although it is beautiful, shows water rather than a beach? User:KF 13:41 20 May 2003 (UTC) :(a) could you be more specific about "not encyclopaedic"? You mean it is a taboo subject that one ought not to talk about? Are omissions in other encyclopedias a reason to avoid subjects? (b) I agree about the photo. A crowded beach with sand and sea would be nice. - User:Patrick 13:55 20 May 2003 (UTC) ::(a) No no no, nothing of the sort. All I'm saying is that the article is about beaches, not beach towels. Well, you can use a towel for all kinds of things: You can use it to blow your nose, wipe the tears from your eyes, strangle someone, clean an apple you are about to eat, etc. etc. When I say this part is not encyclopaedic I mean that it is irrelevant in this context, not taboo. :::Applications of towels that have nothing to do with beaches are in the Towel article (and there is some harmless overlap). The part about changing is also applicable for swimming in a canal, or a river or lake without a beach, I'll put a remark there. - User:Patrick 15:04 20 May 2003 (UTC) ::I agree that it should be noted that, compared to many European countries, nudity seems to be a big issue in the US. I'd also mention The Beach Boys here. --User:KF 14:12 20 May 2003 (UTC) == this article needs a lot of work == Patrick, this article is rambling and badly written, and contains some silly information, such as the stuff in Beach Use. Are you going to bring the piece up to snuff yourself or are you going to let people like User:Marshman do it? If the latter, please don't revert his much-needed edits. -- User:Viajero 11:19, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC) :I would point out that the entire section on towels, except perhaps a link, belongs under the article on towels. There is nothing unique about the beach - towel connnection. Towels are more often seen at swimming pools! In Hawaii we prefer to use reed mats (oriental substitute for towel).User:Marshman 17:36, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC) ::Partly it is specifically about the beach - towel connnection; this could also be moved to the towel article. A part is about modesty and could also be moved there. - User:Patrick 20:27, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC) ::Marshman, the longer I look at the section on Beach Use, the more inane it seems, like it was written by a couple of school kids. I would scrap the whole section. Maybe someday someone can write something meaningful over the history of bathing habits, if that kind of social history is known, but in the meantime... -- User:Viajero 20:30, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC) --- For Patrick: The most important lesson you can learn about writing is called economy of words. In any article, it is important to present the useful points in as few words as possible. I know this sounds crazy, given an open slate like Wikipedia, but the reason has to do with the reader, not us contributors. Reading takes time, and readers want to "get there" in the shortest way possible. Your text is what we call rambling. It incorporates links just to have links, and text in an attempt to cover everything. Everything remotely having to do with beaches cannot be included in the article on beaches. For example, there is no end (in this deletion instance) of the objects that can be formed of beach sand, so there is no point in listing some and linking to the articles on the real objects. Economy of words says we include only the basics to get the idea across -- "sand castle" achieves that purpose, and provides a link to where beach play of the sand castle sort can be expanded as you or others see fit (still adhering to the principal of economy of words). It is inappropriate to take up lots of space discussing sand play in an article on beaches. The same goes for the presentation on towels. A single line with a link to towels will suffice. Under the towel article, more detail can be provided on this aspect with a link back to beach.-- User:Marshman 21:27, 13 Aug 2003 (UTC) :Since you clearly enjoy writing, I would not want to discourage you one bit. But to become a good writer (and that is not easy) you need to learn by putting your stuff out there and then accepting the brutal edits of others as lessons. That is how I learned, from my professors putting lots of red ink on my efforts. And do not think that others here are not equally quick to knock out stuff I write. It is happening. My attitude is "whoa. There is a lesson for me" not "protect my contribution". - User:Marshman ::Marshman, I thought your points above were very well stated. I believe learning to write good encyclopedia articles means developing a critical eye for what should be included and what not, to produce well-organized, well-written, balanced articles containing the right amount and right kind of information. I also learned an immense amount from people who ''red-lined'' my writing efforts in the past. There are some excellent editors here, and we all can learn from each other. -- User:Viajero 15:23, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) Thanks! Would it be worth putting something up in the instructions for new people? - User:Marshman : Well, the Wikipedia meta pages can be edited like all the other ones; have a go at it. Some are already quite good, but locating/navigating can be a problem; I usually start at Wikipedia:Utilities -- that seems to have links to most. That being said, I suspect that most people just jump in, learning as they go along, referring to the meta pages now and then -- User:Viajero 18:13, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) I agree with both points: 1) the help pages are difficult to find and 2) most people do not utilize them until a problem or question arises. Nonetheless, the need to be there to answer the questions. - User:Marshman ----- Is it time to move the list to List of beaches? The page is getting very big! --User:Steinsky 14:32, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) :I would agree, it is getting hard to edit the article the list is so llong! User:Marshman 17:02, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) ----- I think this is looking prettty good. Could someone add something on what sort of flora & fauna live on beaches? What about dunes? -- User:Tarquin 20:47, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) :I was getting ready to include a paragraph on beach structure, which would include dunes, and a link to dunes -- User:Marshman 22:51, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC) :If nobody else gets there first, when I have some more time I'll get out old A level Biology and Geography notes on the subject and do so. I've already added what I remember off the top of my head to the Dunes page. --User:Steinsky 00:24, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) :I added the beach structure part. Of course there may be other terms in use that could be added, but those are the basics on beach structure. I am a biologist and studied beaches for a bit in the Pacific -- User:Marshman 00:55, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) == "beach use" == I've fixed the stuff on "beach use" by moving duplicated towel and sand castle content to where it's appropriate. I think it can be merged back in. User:MyRedDice 15:39, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC) : I agree. I think it is a valid entry in the article now - User:Marshman 17:25, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC) : And now people are adding it back again with the sentence on "beach furniture"! --User:Steinsky 19:08, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC) ::Haha! That was always there, part of the original compromise on what got kept in and what got moved. It was just recently moved from the back to the front of the paragraph—why you just noticed it - User:Marshman 19:14, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC) == Sounds of the Beach == I had this sound file my brother created last Christmas when we were at a beach in South Carolina, so I posted it in a Sounds of the Beach section in this article. I figured it would go great somewhere on Wikipedia since making your own nature recording takes care of any copyright concerns. The file is a little on the large side (1.00MB), but I feel that in it's present state, this .ogg really goes a long way towards making the listener think they're standing there on that beach, which fits in nicely with an article about beaches. However, I wasn't really sure how to integrate it into this page. I knew I could make a "Sounds of the Beach" article, but I didn't feel like tryping something like that up. If someone wants to in the future, they're free to do it. I also didn't want a sort of "click here" thing sitting somewhere on the page, so I thought I'd just put the file in it's own little section in this article now. -user:Anthropic42 July 2, 2004 == Longest Beach == Longest beaches: there is a note in the article text that "longest beach" is claimed by several. Wikipedia has multiple suggestions on this. The Cox's Bazar page says that it (C's B) is. The Marina Beach page says that Marina Beach is the second-longest after Copacabana Beach. The Copacabana page doesn't mention the subject. I am a newcomer to Wikipedia (as you'll notice from the lack of links, and possibly -- although I hope not -- incorrect editing on this page) and don't know where to bring this subject up, since there are at least three conflicting pages. Should I create a note on each page, or will this one suffice? I certainly don't know the right "answer" for this, so I can't do the useful thing and go and edit the pages I think are wrong. --user:telsa except I don't seem to be logged in, sorry, 2004-12-27. :I'm unable to determine what your question is? Is it where to write this note? Looks ok here. With a little research, you could possibly settle the question as maps of each beach exist - User:Marshman 23:04, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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Words begining with Beach:

Beach
Beach
Beach,_ND
Beach,_North_Dakota
Beach-la-Mar
Beach.ogg
Beach1
Beachampton
Beachbumboy
Beachcomber
Beachcomber
Beachcombers
Beached_tuffa_towers_on_South_Tufa_trail-1000px.jpeg
Beached_whale
Beached_whale
Beaches
Beaches
Beaches—East_York
Beaches—Woodbine
Beaches--East_York
Beaches-East_York
Beaches-Woodbine
Beaches_(electoral_district)
Beaches_(movie)
Beaches_(movie)
Beaches_(Toronto)
Beaches_International_Jazz_Festival
Beaches_of_Hong_Kong
Beaches_of_Hong_Kong
Beaches_of_Hong_Kong
Beaches_of_Singapore
Beaches�East_York
Beaches�Woodbine
Beachey
Beachhead
Beaching
Beachley
Beachman
Beachwear
Beachwear
Beachwood
Beachwood,_New_Jersey
Beachwood,_NJ
Beachwood,_OH
Beachwood,_Ohio
Beachworld
Beachy
Beachy
Beachy_Amish
Beachy_Amish
Beachy_Head
Beachy_Head
Beach_(disambiguation)
Beach_Abort
Beach_ball
Beach_Bandits
Beach_Blanket_Babylon
Beach_blanket_babylon
Beach_Blast
Beach_Boys
Beach_boys
Beach_Boys'_Party!
Beach_Boys'_Party!
Beach_Boys_(album)
Beach_Boys_Concert
Beach_buggy
Beach_bum
Beach_bum
Beach_Cities
Beach_City
Beach_City,_OH
Beach_City,_Ohio
Beach_City,_Texas
Beach_City,_TX
Beach_cricket
Beach_cricket
Beach_Fishing
Beach_grass
Beach_Haven
Beach_Haven,_New_Jersey
Beach_Haven,_NJ
Beach_Haven_West
Beach_Haven_West,_New_Jersey
Beach_Haven_West,_NJ
Beach_nourishment
Beach_Park,_IL
Beach_Park,_Illinois
Beach_patrol
Beach_Pea
Beach_pea
Beach_Red
Beach_resort
Beach_shorts
Beach_soccer
Beach_Stone-curlew
Beach_Stone-curlew
Beach_stone-curlew
Beach_Thick-knee
Beach_to_Beacon
Beach_to_Beacon_race
Beach_use
Beach_volley
Beach_volleyball
Beach_volleyball
Beach_volleyball_players
Beach_volleyball_players