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| Image Credit: Tourism Western Australia |
Billions of tiny white cockle shells form a beach aptly named Shell Beach at southern end of L'Haridon Bight in the Shark Bay region of Western Australia. The beach stretches for 60 km (37 mi) with shells with depth of 7–10 m (23–33 ft).
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| Image Credit: Phil Whitehouse/Flickr |
Shark bay featuring a massive seagrass bank that blocks tidal inflow to the beach. The seawater in the L'Haridon Bight has a high salinity due to both the geomorphology and local climate of the area. This high salinity has allowed the cockle to proliferate unchecked, since its natural predators have not adapted well to this environment.
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| Image Credit: Eric Titcombe/Flickr |
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| Image Credit: Mathias Shoots Analogue/Flickr |
The volume of cockle shell in the beach becomes compressed into a special form of limestone called coquina which was mined and used for the construction of a number of buildings in Denham until the UNESCO protection began in 1991. Today, special licenses are still granted to mine the shells as a source of calcium for mulch and poultry feed.
Sources:
Wikipedia,
Atlas Obscura
Reviewed by Vasanth
on
March 06, 2017
Rating:
