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Whistling sand beaches in the British Isles
Author(s) -
RIDGWAY K.,
SCOTTON J. B.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
sedimentology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.494
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1365-3091
pISSN - 0037-0746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3091.1973.tb02049.x
Subject(s) - geology , sorting , continental shelf , geomorphology , table (database) , paleontology , oceanography , computer science , data mining , programming language
Beaches which squeak or whistle when walked on have been known for many years. The phenomenon is shown to be more common than has previously been thought: sand from thirty‐three beaches in the British Isles has been found to whistle. Size distributions of all these sands have been obtained by sieving, and the particle shape distribution in the peak size fractions has been measured by using a vibratory shape‐sorting table. A physical mechanism has been suggested for the production of the whistle, which depends upon a close size grading coupled with a spherical grain shape. The locations at which whistling sand occurs correlate quite well with the landward ends of bed‐load partings in the continental shelf sand transportation pattern as determined from side‐scan Asdic surveys.