VIRTUAL TOUR OF NEWPORT
Mysterious Shells at Moolack Beach, Newport

Former Newport resident Guy DiTorrice answered these questions:

“The shell conglomerates are just that – masses of dead sea life that ended up in a hole or hollow on the ocean bottom,” he tells us. “Scuba divers see this all the time, especially in late spring and early fall.

“The ‘screws’ are somebody playing a game on the beach with flotsam or jetsam from the boats. I like stacking rocks in art-like piles. It really messes with people’s heads when beachcombing."

“The gray ‘rock’ – or sandstone – you see exposed at Moolack is the top layer of Nye Mudstone (just below the Astoria Sandstone). A mixture of sand and ash, it’s more than 20 million years old. It’s very water-soluble and tends to get pretty soft when exposed. You often find petrified (carbonized) woods, Teredo wood and an assortment of clams and snails in the stuff – occasionally fish and mammal bone.”

More photographs of Moolack Beach, Newport, below

To Previous Tour Spot - Moolack Cliff Mysteries | Next - Flock of Srange Birds, Moolack(Continue South)
BACK TO NEWPORT VIRTUAL TOUR MAIN PAGE