GEOSC 10
Geology of the National Parks

A Rocking Review

A Rocking Review

 

Yellow Submarine

The Beatles' Yellow Submarine surely must be very high on any list of songs likely to get stuck in your brain and play over and over and over and... But, watching our beaches, with perhaps three-fourths of the US coastline retreating inland in response to rising sea level and other changes, maybe a really "sticky" song is what we need down by the shore! Anyway, we hope you enjoy this parody, which really does review a lot of the key points that are likely to show up on the RockOn quiz. "We need more sand or the beach will wash away..."

Video: Submarine Beaches, a parody of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" (3:54)

Click here for a transcript of the Submarine Beaches video.

A one, two, three.

RICHARD ALLEY: (SINGING) Near the town where we were born, there's an ocean, not far away. And you know when rocks get worn, they make sand for beaches where we play. Suppose you ride down onto the shore, just to while away your summer day. Splash no beach there anymore.

Could that happen here? What would you say? You'd say, we need more sand, or the beach will wash away. The beach will wash away. The beach will wash away. It guards the land, and the beach can wash away. The beach can wash away. the beach can wash away.

All the waves move sand about, mostly in and then right back out. Some will drift along the shore. Crashing winter breakers take out more. If sand falls too deep, it's gone down into the subduction zone. And it may take 10 million years, eruptions, weathering till new sand appears.

So we need more sand, or the beach will wash away. The beach will wash away. The beach will wash away. It guards the land, and the beach can wash away. Beach can wash away. Beach can wash away.

If we melt glaciers into mud, sand will disappear beneath the flood. Dams on rivers will impede lots of new sand beaches need. You will not have too much luck making beaches with your rubber duck. Chunks of houses might suffice. But for volleyball, that isn't nice.

So we need more sand, or the beach will wash away. The beach will wash away. The beach will wash away. It guards the land, and the beach can wash away. The beach can wash away. The beach can wash away.

If beaches fade beneath the sea, you might need a yellow submarine.

[LAUGHTER]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Credit: R. B. Alley © Penn State is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0