Welcome to Myrtle Beach.
Myrtle Beach is known as a great vacation spot on the Atlantic Ocean. It's sand is soft and beautiful. This Earthcache will hopefully teach you a little on sand and it's sizes.
Definition: Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles. It is defined by size, being finer than gravel and coarser than silt.
What is sand?
Sand is a loose granular material blanketing the beaches, riverbeds and deserts. In different areas sand has different components which makes the sand white, black, green or pink in color.
Sand is mostly composed of silicon dioxide in the form of quartz. Quartz is hard and don't decompose easily.
The Earth's landmasses is composed of rocks and minerals, including quartz, feldspar and mica. Weathering processes like wind, rain and freeze/thaw cycles break these rocks and minerals down into smaller grains.
Unlike other minerals quartz is hard, insoluble in water and won't decompose easily from weathering processes. Streams, rivers and wind transport quartz particles to the seashore where the quartz accumulates as light-colored Beach Sand.
Sand comes in basically 5 sizes.
1) Very Coarse Sand 0.039 - 0.079 inches
2) Coarse Sand. 0.020 - 0.039 inches
3) Medium Sand. 0.010 - 0.020 inches
4) Fine Sand 0.0049 - 0.010 inches
5) Very Fine Sand 0.0025 - 0.0049 inches
Sand is measured using the Wentworth scale.
Sand Guage
To claim credit for this Earthcache email me the answers to the following questions within 5 days of your visit or your log, per EarthCache policy, must be deleted. DO NOT post your answers in your log.
1) Go to these coordinates N 33 40.540 W 078 53.800. Using the posted scale what size Sand is here. What color is it?
2) Go to these coordinates N 33 40.530 W 078 53.789 Your feet should be in ocean( maybe 6 inches deep. Using the scale above what size Sand is here? How does it differ from sand in question 1?
3) What color is the sand on the beach?
4) Go to N 33 40.552 W 078 53.802 What are the last 7 last characters on the sign?
Optional snap a photo of you or the beach. Or write you caching name in sand and snap a photo.