Marine attrition is the mechanical wearing down of rock particles and minerals by wave action both longshore and shore-normal, leading to increasing textural and compositional maturity. The term textural maturity describes the prevalence of finer and better rounded grains, compositional maturity comprises the extinction of less resistant rock particles or minerals. Well-rounded fine-grained quartz sand theoretically represents the final stage of maturity.
The role of sphericity as a measure of marine attrition is debated, as is the effect of sorting or selective transportation. Because of their differing settling velocities, particles of different size or weight, of different sphericity and different roundness behave differently during marine transportation both longshore and shore-normal, leading possibly to similar results as attrition. The same is true for longshore fining of the particles.
Marine attrition of sand
Literature dealing with marine attrition of sand is extremely...
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© 1978 Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc.
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Ibbeken, H. (1978). Attrition (abrasion), marine. In: Sedimentology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg . https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31079-7_12
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