The Hardness of the Soil of the Shore at Whitstable, Kent

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Abstract
There is a constant difference in hardness between the ridges and troughs of fine sand on the shore at Whitstable, Kent. The ridges are always significantly softer than the troughs, which although submerged, hold less water than do the exposed ridges. The ridges consist of an unstable, discontinuous, shifting system built up on a relatively stable continuous layer (trough system). There is a well-established tidal cycle of change of hardness of the soil, which is softer when exposed than when covered. With the incoming tide there is a rapid soften-ing of the soil some way in advance of the tide front, commencing up to half an hour before coverage. This "telegraphing" of its approach by the incoming tide may warn the fauna and flora that the time has come to move down again. The changes in hardness during the period of exposure and in what appears to be a seasonal cycle are not dependent on temperature as one would expect from work on the influence of the viscosity and density of interstitial fluids on soil hardness.

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