Material Detail

Ocean basins are filled with loose sediments, which are the products of erosion. This sediment originates inland and is fed into oceans by rivers. Debris from cliffs and other coastal landforms provides additional sediment volume, as do skeletons, shells, teeth of marine organisms, ash from volcanoes, and even asteroids. This interactive feature shows how these different parent materials influence the color and size of the sediments that compose a beach, and discusses the idea of sorting, how uniform or variable the grain sizes of the sediments are. A background essay and discussion questions are included.

Disciplines:

• Science and Technology  / Geoscience  / Geology