BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 5, pp. 207-212 February m, 1894 



PHENOMENA OF BEACH AND DUNE-SANDS 



BY N. S. SHALER 



(Read before the Society December 28, 1893) 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



Beach-sands 207 



Value of their Investigation 207 



Resistance to Abrasion 208 



Cause of their Endurance 208 



Protectors from continental Destruction 209 



Some Sources of Supply 209 



Seaweeds 209 



Floating Pumice 210 



Dune-sands 210 



Object of their Investigation 210 



Resistance to Percolation of Water 211 



Migration 211 



Little affected by Rain 211 



Retarded by Decay of the Material 211 



Prevented by Vegetation 212 



Limited as to Distance 212 



Beach-sands. 



value of their investigation. 



The following notes concerning certain phenomena of beach and dune- 

 sands have an interest for the reason that they seem to explain some of 

 the conditions under wliich the arenaceous materials of the seashore 

 journey before they come to rest in stratified deposits. Incidentally they 

 show some facts as to the part which the coastal sands take in protecting 

 the shore from the action of the sea. These observations are the result 

 of work done on the eastern coast of the United States in connection 

 with the tasks which have fiillen to me as geologist of the Atlantic Coast 

 Division of the United States Geological Survey. 



XXVIII— Bur,T,. Geoi,. Soc. Am., Vol. 5. 1893. (207) 



