We learn more about the features of Earth - Part 7 Beaches - Information and questions for kids

Have you ever been to the sea?  Playing in the waves, building sandcastles on the beach?  It can be a lot of fun, but have you ever wondered what a beach is or how it formed?

Lets learn more about it.

You will find a beach on the edge of large parts of water like oceans, seas and lakes and it is made up of sand particles, pebbles and sometimes even shells.

A beach is seen as a natural phenomena, because it is not made by man.  It you look at the shape of a beach, it can change over time because of the erosion that will be caused by the waves.  More sand or sediment will be deposited onto the beach or more will be taken away.  Waves can be constructive which means it will deposit more sediment or destructive which means it will take more of the sediment away.

Sandy beaches are mostly made of silica (SiO2) in the form of the mineral quartz. 

The sediment (meaning the sand or pebbles etc) will determine the colour of the beach and it can be white, grey or yellow or a combination of colours.

If you look at the sediment, you will also be able to determine how the 'wave action' is on the beach.  If the water do not come there a lot, the sand on the beach will be much finer than where there is a lot of wave action.  (Think about when you go to the beach = further away the sand is very fine where closer to the water there are more pebbles and shells.)

There are very little of these left, since people are almost everywhere and build houses and malls, but if a beach has no human interference like buildings around it, it is known as a 'wild beach'.

The largest 'sand island' in the world is Fraser island off the coast of Australia and it has a beach that is 65 km long.  There you can take a very long walk on the beach.

Very few animals live on the beach, since the environment is changing the whole time, but you will find some crabs and insects on the beach and the sea turtles uses the beach to lay its eggs.

It is very important that if we spend a day at the beach, we make sure that we take all the plastic and papers and stuff we brought with us, home again to dispose of.

Plastic and rubbish is a huge problem at the beach and a lot of animals will eat it or get stuck in it.  Some people just leave their rubbish at the beach and before long, it is high tide and the rubbish is swept into the sea where it can harm a lot of animal.

Do not be that person who does not care about nature.  Be the one that leave the beach unpolluted so that many people after you can still enjoy it and that the animals can be protected.