Countless Cockles Earthcache EarthCache
Countless Cockles Earthcache
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Shell beach is located about 45km south of Denham, Western Australia. It is part of Shark Bay World Heritage Area which covers 2.2 million hectares on the coast of Western Australia. Shark Bay met the criteria to become a World Heritage Area in 1991. With it's beautiful scenery, biological diversity, abundant ecological processes and geological history there is no denying that Shark Bay is an area worth protecting and enjoying responsibly.
Welcome to Shell Beach located on Shark Bay in beautiful Western Australia.
This beach is entirely made up of tiny white coquina bivalve shells (Fragum erugatum). The beach you are standing on stretches for about 60km and is about seven meters deep, sometimes reaching a depth of ten meters! Deposition of the shells has been occurring for over 4000 years due to the ideal conditions in Shark Bay. While the species exists elsewhere in saline waters, the sheer number of bivalves living in the waters at Shark Bay is due to the hypersaline nature of the waters. Hypersalinity plays a huge role in keeping predators of Fragum erugatum away. In other environments the predators are mainly shell drilling snails (gastropods).
Neat facts about Fragum erugatum:
-it is a tiny mollusc which grows to no more than 14mm long
-it is a burrowing mollusc
-it 'grows' it's own food: tiny green algae live in the molluscs' gills and and mantle. The algae use photosynthesis to survive and release sugars and oils as byproducts and which benefit the bivalve.
Shell Beach past and present
Thousands of year of shell deposits combined with compaction and cementation have resulted in deep layers of coquina. Coquina is solid and has been quarried to use for construction of builidings in the area. Some of Denhams' oldest buildings are made of this material. Today, loose shells are still used for various reasons and since there is continuous deposition they are considered a renewable resource.
To log this Earthcache:
1. Name two buildings in Denham that are made of coquina.
2. Name two other animals native to the area.
3. Upload a photo of one or two shells using your GPS as a scale. Make sure the screen on your GPS shows coordinates somewhere on the beach.
****Please send required logging answers within the next week or your log will be deleted****
BONUS: Post a picture of yourself or any wildlife you see at Shell Beach.
Please do not remove any shells from the beach but do remove any litter that you bring in or that you find already there.
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Treasures
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