A beach is a geological Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed. The field is a major academic discipline, and is also landform In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields, a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography. Landform elements also include seascape and oceanic waterbody interface features such along the shoreline A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore, representing the intertidal zone where there is one. In of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, such as sand Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles, gravel Gravel is rock that is of a specific particle size range. Specifically, it is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters in its smallest dimension (about 1/12 of an inch) and no more than 64 mm (2.5 in). The next smaller size class in geology is sand, which is >0.0625 to 2 mm (0.0025 to 0.0787 in) in size. The next larger size is cobble,, shingle A shingle beach is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small to medium sized cobbles. Typically the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from two to 200 millimeters in diameter, pebbles A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimeters based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles (64 to 256 millimeters diameter). A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate. Pebble tools are among the earliest known man-, or cobblestones Cobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size. "Cobble", which appeared in the 15th century, simply added the. The particles of which the beach is composed can sometimes instead have biological origins, such as shell fragments An exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal endoskeleton of, for example, a human. Some animals, such as the tortoise, have both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. In popular usage, many of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells" or coralline algae Coralline algae are red algae in the Family Corallinaceae of the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of red, but some species can be purple, yellow, blue, white or gray-green fragments.
Beaches often occur along coastal areas where wave In fluid dynamics, wind waves or, more precisely, wind-generated waves are surface waves that occur on the free surface of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and canals or even on small puddles and ponds. They usually result from the wind blowing over a vast enough stretch of fluid surface. Some waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before or current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon the water, such as the wind, Coriolis force, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun. Depth contours, shoreline configurations and interaction with other currents influence a current' action deposits Deposition is the geological process by which material is added to a landform or land mass. Fluids such as wind and water, as well as sediment gravity flows, transport previously eroded sediment, which, at the loss of enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is deposited, building up layers of sediment and reworks sediments.
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BBC News
A group of grey seals have been found beheaded on a beach at a Tyneside seaside resort. The RSPCA said five seals, three of which were decapitated, ...
Headless seals wash up on Whitley Bay beach Times Online
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