What Is Cobourg Beach?
The Cobourg Beach is a natural beach front mixed with pebbles and sand, it also has a natural grass area and boardwalk. The beach is a large tourist attraction with visitors from all over!
What Type Of Sand Is In The Cobourg Beach?
The beach contains a sand type called white sand, and inside the granular parts of the sand you can witness a mineral referred to as quartz. Quartz is a mineral composed of silicon and oxygen atoms. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, besides feldspar.
Is The Cobourg Beach Natural Or Man-Made?
The Cobourg beach is a combination of "man made" and naturalized beach. The beach itself is groomed, but the minerals and 3/4 of the sand found inside the beach are native to the area.
Hold Up! Has The Cobourg Beach Always Been This Size?
Well no, the first Cobourg Pier was constructed May of 1832 and was about 152 meters long into the beach, lots of ship traffic than flowed through the area, because they now had a place to dock in the area. The creation of the pier and the large ships that moved through the area, stirred up sediment in the waters, and the waves from the ships brought some sand ashore. Therefor the beach hasn't always been as large, also due to global warming and climate change, Lake Ontario's waters have been receding slowly, creating more and more beach in the area over time.
Why Should I Care, and Why Is This Important?
The Cobourg beach is home to many natural geological wonders, and is a very interesting place to check out and explore from a learning perspective per say. Climate change and wear over time has worn down the magnificent beach area and is really interesting to check out the erosion and other unique affects of the area.
Waypoint Two:
How Is A Rock Beach Formed?
Waves deposit sand and gravel along the shoreline, rocks are often very smooth, because they have been rolled around in the waves.
Why Is This Location Special
This location is home to a very smooth rocky beach, mostly all of the rocks that contain this natural beach area are smooth and resemble a pebble.
Did The Pier Help With Creation Of This Location As Well
Quite possibly yes, the constant waves from the wind as it is, along with the waves brought by the ships going to the Cobourg pier, likely caused erosion and for rocks to be pushed onto shore in the area.
Can't I See A Pebble Beach Anywhere?
Yes, but this pebble beach is very special. Not only are there round sized pebbles in the area, but there are medium and large sized rocks that are in a pebble like "mold" Likely all brought into the area via Lake Ontario.
Would This Area Once Have Been Underwater?
Yes, the weathering and climate change in the area could be held responsible for the creation of this pebble beach. In 1980, Port Hope the neighboring township flooded which could have stirred up the bedload on the bottom of Lake Ontario, and brought the rocks and sediments, such as sand to shore.
How Can Both Beaches Be Different In Such A Close Proximity?
The pebbles on the one beach were likely at an area of stronger waves and proximity that brought the rocks to shore, because the area is open. The sand beach, however is caused by a shallower bay with less wave energy, and the smaller waves deposited the amount of sand onshore. Cobourg beach at Victoria Park, suggests that this in in fact true, because the pier blocked off lots of waves activity from the vessels, and prevented wind in spots, which helps create smaller waves, which is why the shore is sandy because of the smaller waves.
Questions:
WayPoint One: Cobourg Beach
Q1. Do you see any examples of erosion in the area that may suggest the waterlevels used to be higher?
Q2. Can you see any Quartz in the sand? (Quartz is a translucent or transparent mineral)
Q3. Does the sand feel odd or different at all? Describe the texture?
Q4. How large would you estimate the beach to be?
Q5. Do you think the pier would have affected the creation of this beach area?
WayPoint Two: Pebble Beach
Q1. What do the rocks look like in the area? (a) Rough and bumpy (b) smooth (c) non-existant (d) marble sized, variates between smooth and rough
Q2. Describe a rock or pebble in the area, how big/small is it? What colour? etc..
Q3. From the end of the beach to the shoreline, how big would you guess this beach to be?
Q4. Does this beach appear to continue on down the shoreline? About how far can you see?
Q5. Do you believe the pier affected this area as well?
Optional: Feel free to upload photos!