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character of beach material depends upon the nature and structure of the rocks inshore, the strength and direction of currents, and the force of the waves. The See also:

SOUTHERN

southern See also:

SHORE

shore of the Isle of See also:

WIGHT, ISLE OF

Wight furnishes a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good example. The See also:

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

island ends westward in the well-known " Needles," consisting of See also:

CHALK

chalk with flints. The disintegration of this See also:

rock by See also:

WAVE

wave See also:

ACTION

action separates the finer chalk, which is carried seawards in suspension, from the hard See also:

flint, which is piled in rough shingle upon the shore. The currents sweep constantly eastward up channel, and the rough flint shingle is rolled along by wave action toward the See also:

VENTNOR

Ventnor rampart, and ground finer and finer until it arrives as a very See also:

FINE

fine flinty See also:

GRAVEL, or PEBBLE BEDS

gravel at Ventnor See also:

PIER (older forms per or Pere, from Med. Lat. pera; the word for piers out of water. For river piers, where a firm, watertight is of obscure origin, and the connexion with Fr. Pierre, Lat. stratum is found at a moderate depth below the river-bed, the pctr

pier. The sweep of See also:

SANDOWN

Sandown See also:

Bay follows, where the cliffs are composed for the most See also:

PART

part of See also:

GREENSAND

greensand, and here the beach at low water is sandy and smooth. The eastern end of the island is again composed of chalk with flints, and here the beach material as at the western end consists of very coarse flint shingle. In this, as in similar cases, the material has been dragged seawards from the land by See also:

CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant action of the undertow that accompanies each retreating See also:

TIDE (O. Eng. lid, cf. Ger. Zeit, time or season, connected with root of Sanskrit a-diti, endless)

tide and each returning wave. The resulting accumulated ridge is battered by every See also:

storm, and thrown above See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary high-water See also:

mark in a ridge such as the Chesil See also:

BANK

Bank or the long grass-grown See also:

MOUND

mound that has blocked the old channel of the Yar and diverted its See also:

WATERS, TERRITORIAL

waters into Yaverland Bay. Sandown furnishes an instructive example of the See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power of the eastward currents carrying high-storm waves.

The groins built to preserve the See also:

FORESHORE

foreshore are piled to the See also:

TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top with coarse shingle on the western See also:

side, while there is, a drop of over 8 ft. on to the sands See also:

east of the See also:

wall, many thousands of tons of shingle having been moved bodily by the waves and deposited against each See also:

GROIN

groin. The force of the waves has been measured on the See also:

west See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast of See also:

Scotland and found to be as much as 3 tons per square See also:

FOOT

foot. Against these forces the preservation of the shore from the advance of the sea becomes an extremely difficult and often a hopeless undertaking, since blocks of rock over 10o tons in See also:

WEIGHT

weight have been moved by the waves. The beach is therefore unstable in its position. It advances in front of the encroaching sea, burying former beaches under the See also:

sand and mud of the now deeper water, or it retreats when the sea is withdrawn from the land or the land rises locally, leaving the old shingle stranded in a " raised beach," but its formation is in all cases due to the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form and structure of the shore, the sapping action of the waves, the backward See also:

DRAG (from the Old Eng. dragan, to draw; the word preserves the g which phonetically developed into w)

drag of the undertow plastering the shore with material, which is in turn bombarded by waves and swept by currents that See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover the finer debris of the undertow with a layer of coarse fragments that are re-sorted by the daily action of currents and tides.

End of Article: BEACH

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