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Lifestyle
Mark Friedlander, PhD Candidate, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne

When you sit down to build a sandcastle, take a look around you: the beach is already sculpting

Thomas Williams/Unsplash

Arenicola, or lugworms, make some of the most beautiful structures on the beach. Little piles of wet sand are cast in a swirl from their rear end as part of their feeding cycle.

They are but one of an untold number of other participants in the constant evolution of forms at our water’s edge. Co-contributors include the wind, birds, rain, foliage, foot traffic and detritus, all shaping sand and associated debris into mini peaks and troughs, lines, blobs and tracks.

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