There is a small section of a beach south of Tiros, Greece where most of the gravel is made up of these marble-like stones.
While I was there suddenly several waves came ashore, but the sea was calm and no passing boats around. After awhile the waves stopped.
Have you observed a similar phenomenon elsewhere and how can you explain it?
Dear Dr. Issigonis,
the Greek geology is rife with marble of regional and contact-metamorphic origin. The name has been coined by the ancient Greeks. In the present situation it is a series of reworked gravel-size marble fragments which not anything out of the ordinary are well rounded typical of beach sediments and due to the moderate Moh´s hardness number of calcite. The rocks exposed to erosion in headlands bounding the beach should not be far off the site where you sampled the marble gravel. Marble of commercial interest should be white, red or black. Often limestones taking some kind of fine polish are also named "marble". As I cannot have a look at the grain size, a decicion whether it is a "technical" or a "true marble" in the strict sense is difficult to be taken.
With kind regards
H.G.Dill
Thank Dr Dill for your contribution.
I forgot to mention that these stones are actually limestone. Sorry for this omission on my part.
Marble can also be found in many parts of Greece, but not in this area.
This is about a 50 m long stretch of beach with rounded stones, although to the north and to the south there are no more rounded stones, but mostly sand. So, there is something going on here producing these limestone “marbles”.
I thought deep sea currents could be the culprit.?
Dear Dr. Issigonis,
it is the type of calcarous rocks which I presumed, a "technical marble". There are calcareous flysch sediments with carbonate breccia but the process most decisive for the shape of the carbonate fragments is near-shore marine (beach) (but no beachrock !).
With kind regards
H.G.Dill
thank you Dr. Dill for your contribution.
I am sure the rounded stones are produced from weathering of local limestone and shaped by constant waves which pound that section of the shore more than the surrounding areas.
In order for the stones to get rounded there has to be an extra factor involved in this part of the shore.
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