For many of us, the word “beach” evokes pleasant images of summers spent enjoying sun, sand and surf. But for geologists this word has a more specific meaning, referring to waterborne accumulations of sand that sometimes host economic concentrations of gemstones and other valuable minerals.
The world’s beaches have yielded tons of gold, millions of carats of diamonds, numerous fine specimens of nephrite jade, huge amounts of amber and much of the world’s titanium. Some beaches, however, are not known for their valuable metals and minerals, but for their unusual colors—white, black, green and even purple.