The natural sands of beaches along the Firth of Forth are being mixed with significant amounts of human-made materials like bricks, concrete, glass and industrial waste, new research has revealed.

A detailed survey of six beaches led by a team from the University of Glasgow has found that these mineral-based materials, known as anthropogenic geomaterials, now make up far more of the beach surface than previously realised.

A paper published by the team in the journal Sedimentology shows that up to half of the coarse sediments on Granton Beach near Edinburgh are comprised of anthropogenic materials.