Ripples in the sand

During our walk last night we came upon a section of beach that was different than all the rest.  The tide was very low and the beach was very wide.  And it was wet.  We only walked through just a bit of dry sand so the walking was very easy.  These ripples were like walking on concrete and it was just this one section.  So I looked it up and found that they are caused by winds, waves and currents.  I have added the infromation that I learned below if you are intereted in becoming and expert on the subject.  It was such a fun thing to see....

Ripple marks are one of the most common bedforms found in the intertidal zone of the beach. They are also a very common feature in ancient rocks. Ripple marks form any place where there are the right kind of winds, waves and currents. They form on the dunes, the beach, on the shoreface, or way offshore on the continental shelf. In fact they can form anywhere in the oceans. These low ridges of sand line up in a repetitive pattern perpendicular to the direction of the water current or wind that created them. They look like miniature dunes and can cover very large areas. Ripple marks are formed in the sand by wind or water moving over the surface at a high enough velocity to move sand. Because ripple marks are found in ancient rocks they have been studied of in detail over the years in the hope of using them to determine the geologic history of rocks. We’ll only scratch the surface of ripple marks.

Of the numerous varieties of ripple marks that exist, many beaches frequently have both long-crested or wave ripples, and irregular short-crested or current ripples.

Although wave ripples can be nearly symmetric, the fact that waves are directional means the ripples are moving forward, so they are usually slightly asymmetric in their cross section. Each individual ripple is like a wave in its geometry with a crest and trough. The crests of adjacent ripples may be straight or gently curved (sinuous), but are semi-parallel, and the ripple has one side that is gently sloping while the other side is steep. The steep side faces in the direction that the current is moving. To observe this type asymmetry, you may have to get down close to the beach surface or look at the beach from different angles to catch the light and shadow effect to determine the ripple symmetry. In some wave ripple sets the parallel crests occasionally converge to form zigzag junctures.