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                [Fire_Island_National_Seashore] [Dune face erodes as waves break on
 [search [go]                                   shoreline.]
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   nps.gov       Beaches
                
Skip_Navigation  [Watch Hill Beach in summer.]
PARK_HOME        The summer beach is typically wider and flatter than the beach in
PLAN_YOUR_VISIT  winter.
PHOTOS_&         Fire Island's beaches are composed mainly of white quartz sand of
MULTIMEDIA       varying grain size. Occasional layers of heavy mineral sands—which
HISTORY_&        include grains of garnet and magnetite—appear as colored bands among
CULTURE          the predominantly white sediment. Occasionally, you will find pebbles
NATURE_&         or other gravel and fragments of shell on the beach.  
SCIENCE          The particle size of beach sand is layered, depending on the energy of
Animals          the depositing waves and wind.
Plants            
Environmental     
Factors                 [Exposed black peat is uncovered on ocean beach.]
Natural                 Hard, black deposits of peat are occasionally uncovered on Fire
Features_&              Island's Atlantic Ocean beach.
Ecosystems       The size and shape of the beach is always changing. While sediment is
[Arrow] Beaches  constantly being moved more or less perpendicular to or from shoreline
Coasts_/         by tidal and wave action, the predominant net movement of sediment
Shorelines       along Fire Island's coast is parallel with the shore through the
Sand_Dunes       effects of longshore currents. The movement is called longshore
Wetlands,        sediment transport and its rate is dependent on wave energy and the
Marshes_and      angle at which waves strike the coast.
Swamps            
FOR_TEACHERS     [Coastal Geology Multimedia program cover.]
FOR_KIDS         NPS Natural Resource Program Center
NEWS             For More Information
MANAGEMENT       You can learn more about coastal processes at the NPS "Views_of_the
SUPPORT_YOUR     National_Parks" web site:
PARK                 * Coastal_Processes
Site_Index           * Coastal_Geology multimedia education program
Frequently        
Asked_Questions  [Close-up view of roots and sand   Did You Know?
Bookstore        grains beneath golden stems.]      Tiny rootlets of the American
Contact_Us                                          beach grass (Ammophila
                                                   breviligulata) and mycorrhyzal
[Support_the                                       fungi hold together the grains of
National_Park                                       sand that make up sand dunes on
Service]                                            Fire Island. You can help protect
                                                    the dunes by not walking or
                                                    driving over the beach grass.
                                                    more...
Last Updated: January 20, 2007 at 18:30 EST