the world''s beaches

[...]... invaded Eu­ ope across the beaches of r Anzio, Italy, and then Normandy, France In the same time interval, beaches across the Pacific w ­ ere killing fields as the Allies moved against the Japa­ ese, culminating in the atomic bomb tests at n the Bikini Atoll, the namesake for the bikini bathing suit, introduced by a Frenchman in 1946 The largest oil spill in history soiled the beaches of Kuwait and... seawalls was the eventual loss of the beach All over the world, planners and politicians wanted to know just how beaches worked and what they could do to save them and the ­ ouses next to them h Meanwhile, in the midst of this societal maelstrom over the “erosion problem,” we learned much about the little things that make beaches what they are We came to know why some beach sand is soft, why some beaches. .. 2011/03/17 09:04 the breakdown of the organic matter is emitted from holes in the beach In remote areas adjacent to the mouths of major rivers, logs and driftwood that float down the rivers virtually cover the beach At the mouth of the Magdalena River on Colombia’s Ca­ ib­ e­ n r b a coast, for example, beaches to the west of the river mouth are hidden from view by the log cover Abundant logs on the beaches. .. on the beaches and the ­ ouses landward of them They perform well h in small storms but fail during big storm events, as do the other structures mentioned h ­ ere Fundamentally, engineering applied to a beach is done with the philosophy that preservation of buildings is more important than preservation of the beach Beaches or buildings; we can take our choice Beaches are mined all over the world The. .. thousands of years We then turn to the science of beaches, how their study has developed, particularly during the twentieth century, leading to various classifications of coasts, shorelines, and beaches Then we turn to the materials of beaches, and how the waves and sand interact, what happens in storms, and considerable discussion about why beaches are all different Part II of the book, chapters 6... that, the oil-­ ell drilling-­ latform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico threatened the U.S w p Gulf Coast with an oil spill that became the largest ever for the United States The small, almost unnoticed, reports of beach mining, refuse accumulation on tourist beaches, development controversies, and the stories of the sea-­evel rise on beaches l h ­ ere and there continued to come in, daily reminders of the. .. while staring out to sea, thinking about our place in the universe On beaches we swim, surf, fish, jog, stroll, or just lose ourselves in the wonder of where the land meets the sea Yet for all of our interaction with beaches, few of us understand them: why they are there, how they work, why they show so much variety in form and composition, and why they can undergo dramatic changes in a matter of hours... invasion fleet The Spanish Armada of 1588 met a similar fate in their attempt to invade En­ land when a great storm blew the surviving ships onto the g rocky coasts of the British Isles Many of the survivors and much debris and trea­ ure s washed up on Ireland’s beaches Columbus planted the Spanish flag and a cross in 1492 on the beach at San Salvador in the New World, to the amazement of the natives... reflection of the interconnectedness of the planet) and education; the combination of xi 48430p00i-0xvi_ch00_6P.indd 11 2011/03/17 08:47 these two elements makes our work unique We believe that education is key: the more knowledgeable we become about our beaches and coastlines, the deeper our bond with them and the more firm our willingness to protect these endangered natural habitats The mission of the foundation... storm waves dissipate their energy over a broadened surface If the sea level rises, the beach does not disappear Instead it moves up and back toward the land, apace with the water-­evel rise l Viewed from the air, beaches are the thin line that marks the boundary between  terra firma and the great blue expanse of the ocean This graceful winding line is not fixed; it changes constantly The line waves back . how beaches worked and what they could do to save them and the houses next to them. Meanwhile, in the midst of this societal maelstrom over the “erosion problem,” we learned much about the. when they are asked to view a beach as something other than a strip of sand to play on. The features of beaches, large and small, and the mechanics of beaches, explained over the noise of the. tourist beaches, development controversies, and the stories of the sea- level rise on beaches here and there continued to come in, daily reminders of the varied threats to beaches. There is