Sand

Sand forms the basis of many of our beaches, It is the result of untold years of wear by water, wind and rock on rock. This erosion gradually reduces rocks to granules - grains of sand.

And the nature of the rock will impact on the colour and texture of the sand that results.

Isles of Scilly

The sand on many of the white beaches of the isles of Scilly are made of quartz - looking like sugar crystals. This is because the prevailing granite rock has a high quartz content. Quartz does not weather easily and so some of the grains can remain quite large.

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South Devon
Babbacombe Beach

Some of the beaches of Torbay are famously, and strikingly, red with small dense grains of red sand.

This is a clear indication that the area was once dessert as the red comes from the leaching of iron chemicals from the the upper layer of stones only in desserts.