Variation in particle size distribution on the beach and windward side of a large coastal dune, southwest France

Variation in particle size on the beach and windward slope of Europe's largest coastal dune-the dune du Pilat, southwest France-is studied by means of the log-hyperbolic distribution. Grain size tends to coarsen up the dune as a result of progressive deflation of fines. The dune sands are well-sorted but there is no significant spatial variation in tau(2). Twenty-one out of twenty-five sand samples have positive pi values (negative phi skewness) and there is a weak but significant decline in pi towards the beach. Dune sub-environments could not be detected using the hyperbolic shape triangle.