Focus on Sedimentary Environments

Modern subtropical carbonate beach

Sombrero Beach, Marathon, Florida Keys, USA

	Loose sand sample mounted in resin, cut and polished. Scale is in mm.

Sediment texture

Examine the sediment, then describe the sediment texture. Check your answers against the check lists below. Further information on these and other sediment properties.

Identify the predominant grain size(s): boulders cobbles pebbles granules very coarse sand coarse sand medium sand fine sand very fine sand silt and clay	Describe the sorting seen in the sample: very well sorted well sorted moderately well sorted moderately sorted poorly sorted very poorly sorted
Identify the dominant grain shape(s): equant (cubic or spherical) oblate (disc-shaped) bladed prolate (rod or roller shaped)	How would you describe the rounding of this sample (more than one answer may be correct)? very angular angular subangular subrounded rounded well rounded

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