Granular material physics of granular matter and whose book "The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes" remains an important reference to this day. According to material scientist Patrick Richard, "Granular materials are ubiquitous in nature and are the second-most manipulated material in industry (the first one is water)". In some sense, granular materials do not constitute a single phase of matter but have characteristics reminiscent of solids, liquids, or gases depending on the average energy per grain. However, in each of these states granular materials also exhibit properties which are unique. Granular materials also exhibit a wide range of pattern forming
Ardleigh Gravel Pit Ardleigh Gravel Pit Ardleigh Gravel Pit is a 1.2 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Ardleigh in Essex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. The site exposes a succession of Pleistocene levels, with an interglacial between two glacial periods. The interglacial may date back 700,000 years. The site has plant microfossils rare or unique in Britain, and according to Natural England's description in 1992, it may become the type site for a previously unrecognised British early middle Pleistocene interglacial. The site is divided into two areas. The main one is L-shaped, forming the sloping south-east and