Dear All,

I think you can find my notes on Alabama beach shells in the Conch-L
Archives. In brief, in their natural state the Alabama beaches showed dead
shells that varied from one stretch of the beach to the next according to
offshore topography and seafloor composition. For example, where submarine
erosion exposed old peat beds, peat-dwelling bivalves found a place to live
and some of their shells were washed onto the shore. The shells of most
species were apparently too delicate to be transported very far by longshore
drift. My conclusion was that it's a good idea to make separate collections
on different stretches of beach.

Of course, the beachworn shells don't represent any one offshore community;
they're all mixed up. But they aren't random either!

Cheers,
Andrew K. Rindsberg

Geological Survey of Alabama


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