Sand or Rocks?

Question

Why do the beaches in the upper northeast, Massachusetts and Maine, have a lot of rocks and coarser sand when the beaches in say New Jersey and Maryland have no rocks and finer sand.

Answer 1

It is controlled mostly by the local geology and weather, the rivers near by, the shape of the coastline, and the shape of the bottom.

Sand is deposited on beaches by rivers and then is carried along the coast by the current and distributed to local beaches. It is also continuously washed away into deeper water.

The amount of sand any particular beach has then depends upon how fast sand is delivered to the beach compared to how fast sand is removed from the beach.

Delivery rates are probably controlled by how much sand a particular river tends to wash down and how close the river mouth is to the beach and finally which way the coastal currents flow. These things are largely controlled by the local geology, weather, and the shape of the shore and sea floor.

Removal rates also depend upon currents, shore and sea floor shapes and wave action. Again these factors are controlled largely by weather and geology.

I am not familiar enough with the areas you ask about to answer your question specifically. In fact the factors I just described interact in a complex manner and therefore you question might be extremely hard to answer specifically even with very good local knowledge of the relevant factors.

Answer 2

Rocks

Answer 3

I reckon it might have had something to do with the ice age when glacers shoved all the rocks and boulders on top of everything. The glaciers would also have scraped off much of the topsoil and ripped away whatever beaches there were. Farther south you would not have had this.

Sounds good to me anyway, but what do I know...?

Answer 4

Boxers

Answer 5

Sand is ground-up sea shells. The warmer the water, the more shells, the more sand.

Answer 6

Sand, because rocks hurt...

Answer 7

rocks

Answer 8

giant chickens ate the rocks?