Many tropical islands have snow-white white sandy beaches. In Hawaii, beaches may be either white, green, black, or red. Sand around Bermuda is frequently pink. Additionally, the majority of beaches have brown sand. What causes such various hues? Why does some sand seem fine and soft while other kinds feel coarse? In any case, where else does beach sand originate from? A particular beach’s sand is a product of its surroundings. Like a fingerprint, it is exclusive to that beach. Go to west palm beach yacht rental to find out more about these sands.
How is sand made?
Sand is often obtained from rocks on the land. Rock is cracked into smaller pieces over time by weather conditions such as rain, cold, heat, wind, ice, and even animals and vegetation. Big rocks that split into smaller rocks might be the starting point of this weathering. The granite is eroded by water that enters fissures. Water expands when it becomes ice in places where the temperature is low enough for it to do so. The fissures are widened as a result. Repeatedly, the freeze-thaw cycle takes place. Gaps become bigger every time. The pieces separate. They disintegrate into ever smaller pebbles, rocks, and sand particles over many thousands of years.
Other ways how sand is made
Sand is also created by crashing waves and tides that ebb and flow. These movements cause sand grains, stones, and boulders to collide with one another. This activity exhausts them. Additionally, it softens sharp edges. The sand seems gentler the smaller and more rounded the grains are.
Different rock elements deteriorate in different ways. Some don’t last very long. Others are far more resilient, such quartz & feldspar. These two minerals are what make up the typical stretch of beach and survive longer than others. Iron oxide-tinted quartz seems light brown. Feldspar is brown. Together, they give many beaches their characteristic sand-colored tone.
Sand made out from volcanic eruptions
Sand arises from volcanic rock in regions where there are volcanoes. It explains why the Hawaiian Islands’ beaches have different colors. The molten rock that produces red beaches is iron-rich. There is a lot of the element olivine in green beaches. Additionally, volcanic glass known as obsidian is used to make black beaches. Shards of obsidian are produced when lava breaks as it runs into water because it hardens so rapidly. The shards eventually become sand as tides smooth them out over time.
How is beach sand made?
However, beach sand contains more than simply minerals from the earth. Additionally, the ocean provides some sand. Marine creatures’ hard shells as well as other parts wash ashore on the coast. They are dispersed into smaller, sand-sized fragments by pounding waves. The primary supply of sand in tropical regions with coral reefs comes from these sources.
Animals that graze on coral, including parrotfish, call such reefs home. Algae on and within the corals are consumed by parrotfish. However, they don’t consume delicate foods. They eat large chunks of coral, such as the bone, whole. Skeletal fragments are crushed up and expelled as sand. Every year, a single parrotfish may produce hundreds of thousands of pounds of sand!
Additionally, the remnants of microscopic foraminiferal organisms are where sand is found. Forams are amoeba-like, solitary protists. They create calcium carbonate shells as a sort of defense. The majority of shells or coral skeletons contain the same material. Forms leave behind its shells like sand when they die. Forams create pink seashells in Bermuda, providing the island’s beaches a distinctive color.
