August 12, 1982 - Our Sandy BeachesAugust 12, 1982 The New- Rebieb)
Our Sand y Beaches
Sandy beaches are in demand today.
Everyone wants to go to the beach, and
why not? There you can take off your shoes
and walk barefoot in the clean warm sand.
Stony beaches such as some of the ones
on our north shore are mighty tough on the
feet. Yet in some places along these shores
where the "drift" accumulates, the
beaches are not too bad. Even here,
however, the sand is of a coarser nature
than our bay and ocean beaches.
Sand is continually moving; the two
main forces being wind and water. When
it's wind blown, we have our familiar
dunes held in places by the dune grasses.
When it's water borne, we have our barrier
beaches, sand bars and sandy beaches.
These all can be further sorted into sizes
and weights. You can feel the size
difference just by walking on them.
Our ocean beach is the best place to
experience this change of grit. Often we'll
walk from a fine sandy section of beach
onto a coarse, gritty, eddy where the sea
has collected and sorted these larger
grains.
Most of our sand is basically made up of
quartz. This has given our beaches that
wonderful whitish look. Yet in some places
you'll find patterns of darker sand pro-
duced again by the action of wind or water.
Upon close examination, these dark areas
have a reddish to blackish look caused by
the reddish garnet sand or the blackish
magnetite sand. The latter has such a high
concentration of iron that is can readily be
picked up by a magnet. In some areas on
Long Island these concentrations of black
iron sand are so great that speculators at
one time had even contemplated mining
it.
Wind Sorts Sand
What makes these dark patterns on our
dunes and beaches is the heavier weight of
the garnet and magnetite particles com-
pared to the lighter quartz sand. Whenever
the wind blows over or the water washes
over the sand, the lighter quartz moves
away, leaving the dark sand behind. This
gives us the characteristic windrows of
colored sand.
An easy test of this theory is to scoop up
some of the mixed sand in the palm of your
hand and blow over the top of it. The white
sand will blow away, leaving the darker
sand behind.
This same theory of lighter material
being moved off and leaving the heavier
material behind is exactly how some of our
beaches become stony and others sandy.
Over all sand is light and is moved along
the beach by wave and current action until
nothing remains but the stony beach.
Years ago before the advent of the
modern dredge, the beaches down where I
used to live were a mass of one, two and
three -inch stones. Above the high tide
mark there was still some sand, but as you
got into the tidal zone, the stones took over.
Later when our creeks were dredged,
the light sand that had moved and
accumulated in the mouths of the creeks
was pumped out and spread along our
beach. Now we had beautiful soft sandy
beaches.
The problem now , is that our lovely
beaches are once again on the move and
the sand has drifted again into the mouths
of our creeks requiring additional dredg-
ing. The technical term for this replace-
ment of sand is beach nourishment. It all
sounds so simple, but there are many
unknowns and vested interests that are
continually at work to throw the system
out of kilter.
How Sandy Spits Are Made
We have many areas of land here on
Long Island that have been created
naturally out of this moving sand we have
been talking about. Most notable is the
barrier beach along the south side called
Fire Island. It's a favorite spot for
recreation and vacationing because of its
superb beaches. On the north shore, out
east is another example of a barrier
beach — though much smaller -- created by
drifting sand — Orient State Park. Many of
our points of land are made up of these
moving sands also; Paradise Point,
Nassau Point, the north end of Robins
Island to name just a few.
Moving sand is part of the makeup of
Long Island. In many ways man has tried
to alter its movement. Most have proved
useless and sometimes detrimental. All
have cost endless amounts of money.
It's like the weather. There's not too
9@('SMg3 fo.M
�fln'QmTq
much you can do about it but to live with it.
I know that's hard for some, particularly
when we've been able to get almost
everything we want just by paying for it.
The truth of the matter is a natural
shoreline left alone is the cheapest and
easiest to live with, provided you keep far
enough back from the shoreline. Proof of
this wisdom is the setback that is now
required along our Sound bluffs by our
Planning Board. Good planning serves
everyone in the long run.
PAULSTOUTENBURGH
Anderseq
Come home to quality.
Come home toAnderwn.
Page 9
SAND CASTLES - -Like most of man's structures at the edge of the sea,
this sand castle will soon give way to the wind, surf and sea.
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
Andersen
TERRATONE
GLIDING DOORS
b7NSALE 40% OFF
All six foot and eight foot Terratone units in stock at
Riverhead Building Supply are being sold at 40% off.
All units are K.D., with screens, no options.
6' unit (reg. $840.94) $50460 net, plus tax
8' unit (reg. $988.38) $59300 net, plus tax
RIVERHEAD BUILDING
SUPPLY CORP.
3 Railroad Avenue Kitchen Cabinet Showroom 303 Ostrander Avenue
East Hampton 431 E. Main St., Riverhead Riverhead
324 -0300 727 -1400 727 -3650
The Skill Goes On, But in
High Powered Steeds Every
Friday Night at 8:00 P.M. at
the All 1Yew Riverhead Raceway
WINSTON NASCAR MODIFIEDS • STREET STOCKS • NOVICE DIVISION
OUR NIGHTS WILL MAKE YOUR BLOOD RACE
SPEC TA TOR DRAG RACING EVERY WEEK!
M
J"cEwA
• 7i
All Gat
,V,Tlk,A