Where Does Sand Come From

How does sand come from?
Sand comes from rocks, when they break down. In some places the sand can come from pieces of the road that have been broken off and turned to small particles. But in most places sand comes from crust from the ocean floor and shells that have been broken to create small little pieces like a grain of sand. Hawaii's beautiful white sand is made from Parrot fish poop, how interesting and gross. 

How are beaches formed?
Beaches are formed by ocean crust coming up form the water, and rock breakdown.
Rocks after millions of years will break down and turn into small particles called sand. 

What can you learn about an area by looking at sand?
If you look at sand around the world you can notice that it can be different colors. In warm areas like a dessert the sand is sorta orange because there is not minerals its just really dry. Where we live all the sand is just like a cream color because it comes from the sea and that is ocean crust, wind and water erosion created the desert sand.

Hawaii

Ocean City, MD

Hawaii

Cranes Beach (Ipswich) 

Theroy of Seafloor Spreading

The theory of seas floor spreading was found when new ocean technology was invented to help scan the seasfloor. The technology helped to find the mid-ocean ridge, Rift Valley and trenches. Evidence that supports seasfloor spreading is the ocean bottom sediment, and seeig the rift valleys. Seafloor spreading is processed in the mid-ocean ridges, and it creates new crust on the Seafloor, it is caused by volcanic activity under water. The magma comes up through the Rift Valley and it hardens as it flows down the ridge.

Dynamic Earth

• What forces do scientists think cause tectonic plates to move?

The continental drift, the divergent , convergent and transform boundaries. They believe that continents where once together. And they believe that the cause if tectonic plates is when an earthquake occurs when two plates past each other and create an earthquake shaking the plates and making them move. 

• According to the theory of plate tectonics, what changes will occur to the oceans and the continents over the next millions of years?

The continents will move even more. The Atlantic ocean and Indian ocean will expand as the Pacific shrinks. Southern California will pass San-Francisco as it moves to the northeast and a new ocean will form in the east Africa rift valley. And the Mediterranean sea will close as Africa moves Northward.   

History and Culture of Coastal Areas

How have the history and culture of coastal areas been affected by there geology?

Our seven continents where once believed to be just one big continent called Pagaea. The continents moved over time this is called the dance of the continents. Seafloor spreading theory consist of the movement of the Seafloor over the years. Under the sea beneath the seafloor is magma and as time passes the magma comes through rift valleys in the floor (deep valleys that run through the mid-Atlantic ridge, the ridge runs right down the Atlantic in the deep ocean). The continents , also considered tectonic plates, are very important to the movement of the continents. There are three different types of plates movement, the movement of the continents moving past each other causing earthquakes, another is when one goes under another, and the last crash into each other. The history of the coastal area is the fossils founded in some of the the continents and not in others. Some cultures will have volcano, earthquakes, or flooding it depends on where you live, For example If you live in Hawaii you will have volcano and earthquakes because you are on an island and the ocean floor is moving, if you live in the middle of a continent you will not get flooding, because you don't live on the coast , most people that live on the coast get a lot of flooding and earthquakes because they are closer to the sea floor movement. Difffrent rocks are also found on the seven continenets Metamorphic, Sedimentary and Ingneous rocks.Ingneous rocks are created by lava when it cools and hardens. Sedimentary is when particles by water flow this is where fossils are found, and Metamorphic is layers built, and the rock forms when pressure and heat become great enough to change.

Return to the Antikythera shipwreck

The Antikthera was a treasure ship which carried bronze and marble full, size statues, and gold jewelry, and coins. They also found a mechanism ancient analog computer. The first trip was in 1900 and they did not discover much because they scuba clothing they had was heavy and not made for that kind of diving. One person died and two were hurt badly on the trip. Then in 1976 another trip was made by Jacques Cousteu. He created new equipment to to help with keeping the divers alive and able to stay at the bottom for a longer time than before. The ship was 135-185 ft. When the explores from 1900 they only were able to discover a little bit of the ship only about 20% was discovered. The next exploration started in September to October. It was led by Theotokis Theodoviou and Aggiliki Simossi. The spot of the ships discovery  is among the most famous of all marine sites. New technology has been created to help make discovering and diving easier. Roberts are one of the new inventions, they create 3D visual maps, and easier ways to read what is under the water. Safer scuba outfits where also created, one was called Exosuit and it can bring humans down 1,000 ft and stay in the bottom for 40 hours. The Sitris was one of the vehicle used underwater to take pictures of the shipwreck. I think that all of this is really cool and it will help people to understand our ocean because it takes up most of the world. The new technology and new scuba suits will  help with that, it will help the divers to stay under the water longer and help to discover new species and help to dive deeper without getting hurt.