Shell Beach

I've put up a photo tour of Shell Beach, on the California coast. It's no ordinary beach, although the tide pools and fishing are supposed to be good. I was there because it's a superb place to observe the rocks and setting of a subduction zone. Everything is there, from high-pressure eclogite to the rarely seen shaly matrix that polishes everything else in the mélange like lapidary rouge or an umpire rubbing a baseball with mud.

Mammoth Rocks blueschist — Geology Guide photo