158 WAVES OF THE SEA 



thus often stranded through loss of buoyancy. This 

 stranding effect is seen best, however, in the wood, 

 seaweed, corks, &c., which are left in a marginal 

 fringe at the furthest reach of the wash from the 

 waves . 



The proper effect of waves, when acting with- 

 out complicating circumstances, upon a sufficient 

 supply of shingle is to construct a bank or ridge 

 upon the top of the beach, the face of which is of 

 very steep and uniform slope. These banks are 

 called Fulls, and are a characteristic feature where - 

 ever shingle beaches extend seawards upon our 

 shores tf.g 1 ., at Dungeness. 



The Movement of Sand by Waves 



Sand neither remains suspended indefinitely, as 

 mud, nor drops instantaneously, as shingle, but 

 settles through water at a moderate rate, which for 

 the beach sand at Branksome Chine, Dorset, is 

 about 2 inches per second. Unlike fine mud, which 

 the wave-water of the sea passes on to the great 

 depths ; unlike the shingle, which the waves reject 

 upon the shore ; the movement of the sand is very 

 variable, changing more than that of the mud or 

 shingle with the varying agitation of the sea. My 

 own observations on seashore sand have been made 

 on the coasts of England, Scotland, and Wales, but 



