12 Absolutely Unique Kinds Of Beaches You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

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Pink Sand Beaches:

 The pink color of the sand comes from tiny microscopic shelled animals known as Foraminifera. This animal has a bright pink or red shell full of holes through which
 it extends a footing, called “pseudopodia” which it uses to attach itself and feed.

 White Sand Beaches:

 The bright white sands are eroded limestone and may contain coral 
and shell fragments in addition to other organic or organically derived 
fragmental material.

 Sea Shell Beaches

 At places like Shell Beach in Australia and Sanibel Island in Florida, the coastline is pure shells. Causes for the abundance of shells range from lack of predators to unique geographic positioning that allows shells from all over to collect on the shores.

 Red Sand Beaches:

 The colorful red sand is a result of the surrounding iron-rich black and red lava
 rocks left over from the ancient volcanic activity.

 Orange Sand Beaches

 It’s pretty much a very rare occurrence, but it does happen. The coastline 
of Ramla Bay in the Maltese Islands is a bright orange due to its high iron 
content but lack of volcanic rock bits darkening the sand.

 Glass Beaches

 This beach is a unique case. It’s located in Fort Bragg, California and it was once
 a major dumping site for garbage. Then in the 60’s, the city shut it down, and 
several environmental cleanup programs were instituted to clean all the waste. Underneath all the detritus, they found this amazing beach of polished sea glass.

 Green Sand Beaches:

 Only two beaches in the world have green sand: Papakolea Beach in Hawaii, and Talofofo Beach in Guam. The reason? The green color comes from large qualities
 of lava that contains olivine. Strong waves move dirt particles out to sea, while
 leaving behind the heavier olivine sand on the beach.

 Blue Sand Beaches

 In this case it’s not really the sand that’s glowing blue, but a host of
 bioluminescent phytoplankton scattered across the coastline on this island 
in the Maldives. The tiny organisms emit light when stressed, be it by the
 lapping of waves, the carving action of a surf board or other, creating
 what looks like a network of stars.

 Geometric Rock Beaches

 Apparently you don’t need sand to have a beach. Although these pillar
 at the Giants Causeway in Ireland appear to be man-made, they are actually the product of basalt from hardened lava fracturing as it dried, which left 
interlocked pillars that seem to have been etched by the ancients.

 Purple Sand Beaches

 The beautiful purple sands of the Pfeiffer Beach draw their unusual color from manganese garnet deposits in the rocks around the secluded cove.

 Black Sand Beaches

 They’re incredible and unique. The black sand is made out of tiny fragments 
of lava. Most of it is created almost instantaneously, as hot lava enters
 the water and cools down so suddenly that it solidifies.

 Cave Beaches

 Cave beaches are said to have formed centuries ago due to volcanic activity 
and water erosion. About 40 miles off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico lies
one of the most famous cave beaches in the world, the breathtakingly
 serene Marietas Islands.