I semi-assumed the sand in Carlsbad/Oceanside was brought in from elsewhere for the tourist season. I figured the cobblestones were the “natural” beach, with the sand being dumped and spread around by the municipalities. Is there *some* of this happening also, or is the sand-to-cobblestone cycle up there 100% natural?
I do not know for certain about Carlsbad and Oceanside, but there are definitely places where sand is moved to the beaches to keep them tourist-friendly. Where I grew up in Florida, there were even permanent structures that pumped sand from offshore onto the beach every year.
In many coastal regions over the last 50 years, water level has risen by 10's of centimeters. Normally, this would just push the beach up the land a bit, the beach consuming the land upward (including taking chunks out of cliffs). But because people like their homes close to the water and there is no room for this upward-scooting, repumping sand onto the beach counteracts the sea level rise.
It's tough to say what is "natural" now, since we have definitively impacted the system. The only thing that we can comfortably say is that no matter how the sand gets there, waves are capable of moving it around.
Thanks for the comment, Taylor, it is good to point this out.
1. We don’t see very much of the cobblestones south of about Encinitas, including some of the really wide, sandy areas like IB or LJ Shores. And,
2. Knowing that some places *do* bring in sand (like you said happens in some places in Florida). And,
3. Seeing all of the dredging O’side does from the harbor made me think *this* was where the sand might be coming from (if that makes sense).
But, you’re right. It’s probably pretty hard to know what is really “natural” anymore, given how much infrastructure we’ve built to try to “control”/“change” these natural forces … and have been doing so for 100s of years.
I grew up over an hour inland from Oceanside, so it and Carlsbad were the places I most frequented growing up. I always loved the clack-clack-clack the mounds of cobblestones on the shore would make as they got thrown around during winter swells. It’s such a different “vibe” from the calmer sounds of summer mornings.
I semi-assumed the sand in Carlsbad/Oceanside was brought in from elsewhere for the tourist season. I figured the cobblestones were the “natural” beach, with the sand being dumped and spread around by the municipalities. Is there *some* of this happening also, or is the sand-to-cobblestone cycle up there 100% natural?
I do not know for certain about Carlsbad and Oceanside, but there are definitely places where sand is moved to the beaches to keep them tourist-friendly. Where I grew up in Florida, there were even permanent structures that pumped sand from offshore onto the beach every year.
In many coastal regions over the last 50 years, water level has risen by 10's of centimeters. Normally, this would just push the beach up the land a bit, the beach consuming the land upward (including taking chunks out of cliffs). But because people like their homes close to the water and there is no room for this upward-scooting, repumping sand onto the beach counteracts the sea level rise.
It's tough to say what is "natural" now, since we have definitively impacted the system. The only thing that we can comfortably say is that no matter how the sand gets there, waves are capable of moving it around.
Thanks for the comment, Taylor, it is good to point this out.
I think part of the reason I assumed this was
1. We don’t see very much of the cobblestones south of about Encinitas, including some of the really wide, sandy areas like IB or LJ Shores. And,
2. Knowing that some places *do* bring in sand (like you said happens in some places in Florida). And,
3. Seeing all of the dredging O’side does from the harbor made me think *this* was where the sand might be coming from (if that makes sense).
But, you’re right. It’s probably pretty hard to know what is really “natural” anymore, given how much infrastructure we’ve built to try to “control”/“change” these natural forces … and have been doing so for 100s of years.
I grew up over an hour inland from Oceanside, so it and Carlsbad were the places I most frequented growing up. I always loved the clack-clack-clack the mounds of cobblestones on the shore would make as they got thrown around during winter swells. It’s such a different “vibe” from the calmer sounds of summer mornings.