How is the beach looking?

[30A Skunkape]

Nice

 

[Beach Chairs 4 U]

The beach is beautiful!

Just wondering how the beach has fared this winter. Is there more sand or less, etc. Did the winter storms create more erosion?

The beach looks great! The water is still 59 degrees inshore but the sun is shining and getting warmer everyday.

Chip

 

[sisters4]

I love that everyone on here is wondering about "their" beach and how is it looking? It is almost as if we are protective of it and if we cannot be there we hope it is OK. Does that make sense? It does to me and to everyone who is wondering how the beach is.

 

[kathydwells]

I can't wait to dig my toes in that beautiful sand.

 

[PTYAYA]

As a snowbird (from Birmingham) would someone explain what makes the white sand black overnight? It looks like pepper heavily sprinkled over the sand. I need to explain it to my grandson who is here for his spring break. Thanks so much. XOXO

 

[DuneLaker]

I'll try for a short answer. Tell your grandson that our fabulous white sand here in South Walton came down from the Appalachian Mountains thousands of years ago. The quartz sand was affected by several different ice ages over 30 or so major time periods. Our white sand in South Walton and Northwest Florida is so special and different as during the Pleistocene period there was an epic event that caused the siliclastics (or quartz) to come to our beaches and the more carbonate mix to go to the Bahamas platform. Now, over those thousands of years there were other things going on like change in sea level, plant and animal impact, etc. Also, 10,000 years ago, the shoreline was 100 miles out from most of the Florida shore. Here, since we are also naturally higher than the rest of Florida, ours was probably out 40 or so miles at this point. And, our part of West Florida is probably from a whole different continent than the Peninsula part of Florida. (continental drift, etc.). As for the dark sand mixed in and exposed from time to time, BeachSi02 gave us the name of this once. Maybe he'll chime in. So with all this dynamic activity over thousands of years, it is not unusual to see other things mixed in, especially when uncovered by high wave activity. South Walton is particulary special in that we have many coastal dune lakes mixed in along our white quartz sand beaches.

You didn't say whether your grandson was 3 or 23. If he is 3, just tell him it got mixed in with our white sand a long time ago and the big waves have temporarily uncovered it. It is clean and natural.

 

[Will B]

Or an even shorter answer...

The black sand is heavier than the white sand so it tends to stick around in layers.

It's called ilmenite. Here's the post where BeachSi02 explained it...

http://www.sowal.com/bb/nature-environment/25159-black-sand.html#post432822

 

[kimbug]

So it's great to see the beaches looking so pretty. My brother-in-law is down there right now @ Blue Mountain Beach and reports that the water is not as clear and pretty as usual. I can't tell from the photo he sent but it definitely is missing the beautiful green the I know and love. Also lot's of jellyfish. I know it's nature. I just told him I'd try and find out what's up. Anyone?