Singing Sands Cache EarthCache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(not chosen)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This is a magnificent stretch of beach that extends between Basin
Head & East Point on the north-east tip of P.E.I., east of the
town or Souris and just over an hour's drive from Charlottetown.
This beach is about 8 km. long. The white (silica) sand is
geographically unique in the province. When beachgoers walk on it,
it makes a singsong sound. Actually, the sound is little more than
a squeak, but it is distinctive and mysterious. It's a pnenomina
that scientists don't completely understand but studies have found
that this sound is produced when quartz sand is well rounded and
spherical.
Singing Sands beaches have been reported on beaches in the North of
Wales, on the little island of Eigg in the Scottish Hebrides and at
a number of beaches on the Atlantic coast.
In 2007,the Singing Sands Beach at Basin Head was given a
nomination (and made the short list but didn't win) by CBC viewers
for one of the 7 Wonders of Canada. It gained 8,232 votes as one of
the most intriging natural sites in the country.
The most common mineral in the Earth's continental crust is quartz,
and most silica sand is made up of broken down quartz crystals.
Silica is another name for silicon dioxide. SiO2, of which quartz
is a specific latticed structure. So silica sand is quartz that
over the years, through the work of water and wind, has been broken
down into tiny granules. These granules can be used for many
different purposes,and can be found in most non-tropical regions of
the world.
Silica sand is used throughout the world, and in so many different
ways it is hard to imagine a world without it. From water
filtration, to glass manufacture, to industrial casting, to sand
blasting, to producing concrete, to adding texture to slick roads,
silica sand impacts every aspect of daily life.
Singing sand, whistling sand or barking sand is sand that produces
sounds of either high or low frequency under pressure. The sound
emission is usually triggered by wind passing over dunes or by
walking on the sand. The sound is generated by shear stress.
Certain conditions have to come together to create singing
sand:
l. The sand grains have to be round and between 0.1 and 0.5 mm in
diameter.
2. The sand has to contain silica.
3. The sand needs to be a certain humidity.
The most common frequency emitted seems to be close to 450 Hz.
Importantly, there are still scientific controversies on the
details of the singing sand mechanism. It has been proposed that
the sound frequency is controlled by the shear rate. Others have
suggested that the frequency of vibration is related to the
thickness of the dry suface layer of sand. The sound waves bounce
back and forth between the surface of the dune and the surface of
the moist layer creating a resonance that increases the sound's
volume.
To get to these co-ords go to Bothwell Beach Rd. at co-ords: N 46
24.268 W 062 04.712. Follow this road down to the parking
area.
To log this earthcache, go to the co-ordinates and log a picture of
you or your group with your GPS plainly visible and send an e-mail
to us with your estimate of the height of the dunes at the co-ords.
Do not include this estimate in your on-line log. You do not need
to wait for confirmation from us before posting online. However,
any logs that do not fulfill the requirements, will be deleted.
Congratulations to fogbog for the F.T.F.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tb gb gur pb-beqf jvgu lbhe pnzren. Rawbl gur ornpu naq znxr lbhe bja zhfvp.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures