What does the sand tell us? The melt-water of sedimentary continental glaciers
The majority of sand in Estonia has settled from melt-water of continental glaciers, says Agnes Anderson, a doctoral student at the TU Institute of Ecology, in this video clip of the One-Minute Lecture series.
鈥淪and plays an important role in the development of different Estonian landscapes, such as beautiful sandy beaches and dune forests,鈥 describes Anderson.
Sands are defined as sediments where the particle size ranges between 0.0625 - 2 mm. Small size sediments are referred to as silt and larger sizes are referred to as gravel.
A total of 16% of the long Estonian coastline (nearly 3800 km) is comprised of sand beaches. Because of the natural ecosystems, intensified beach processes and recreational use, these areas have been research objects at the TU Institute of Ecology for the past twenty-one years.