Driftwood

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Driftwood

Driftwood is wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
that has been washed onto a shore or beach of a sea or river by the action of winds, tides, waves or man. It is a form of marine debris

Marine debris

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally become afloat in a lake, sea, ocean or waterway....
.

In some waterfront

Waterfront

Waterfront may refer to:*The dockland district of a town*Waterfront a musical band with a hit, Cry in the 1980s.*Waterfront Records, an Australian record label....
areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides shelter and food for birds, fish and other aquatic species as it floats in the ocean. Gribble

Gribble

A gribble is any of about 56 species of marine Isopoda from the family Limnoriidae. They are mostly pale white and small crustaceans, although Limnoria stephenseni from subantarctic waters can reach 10 mm....
s, shipworm

Shipworm

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Encyclopedia

Driftwood is wood

Wood

Marine debris

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally become afloat in a lake, sea, ocean or waterway....
.

In some waterfront

Waterfront

Gribble

Shipworm

Shipworms are not worms at all, but rather a group of unusual saltwater clams with very reduced shells, notorious for boring into wooden structures that are immersed in sea water, such as piers, docks and wooden ships....
s and bacteria decompose the wood and gradually turn it into nutrients that are reintroduced to the food web. Sometimes, the partially decomposed wood washes ashore, where it also shelters birds, plants, and other species. Driftwood can become the foundation for sand dunes.

Driftwood is created from:

whole or part tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s that have been washed into the ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
, due to high winds, or intense flood
Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide....
ing
buildings and their contents washed into the sea during storms
wooden objects discarded into the water from shore; known as flotsam
dropped dunnage
Dunnage

Dunnage is a term for off-cut or spare pieces of scrap wood. "Dunnage" is a common word throughout many trades in New Zealand, Australia, The Americas, and UK such as welding, carpentry, building construction, etc....
or lost cargo
Cargo

Cargo refers to goods or produce transported, generally for Commerce gain, by Cargo ship, Cargo airline, Train#Freight trains, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal freight transport long-haul cargo transport....
; known as jetsam
remains of wrecked wooden ships and boats; part of a shipwreck
Shipwreck

A shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, either in it having sunk or been Beaching . A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck, such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink, the stranding of the ship on rocks, land or shoal, or the destruction of the ship at sea by vio...

In history

According to Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, the first humans, Ask and Embla

Ask and Embla

In Norse Mythology, Ask and Embla were the first two humans created by the gods. The pair are attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson....
, were formed out of two pieces of driftwood, an ash and an elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus, family Ulmaceae. Elms first appeared in the Miocene period about 40 million years ago....
, by the god Odin

Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
and his brothers, Ve

VE, Ve or ve may refer to:* V?, a god in Norse mythology* V? , a shrine in Germanic paganism and modern place name element* Ve , a character from the Cyrillic alphabet...
and Vili.

Driftwood carried by Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctica region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland....
rivers was the main, or sometimes only, source of wood for some Inuit

Inuit

Inuit is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Russia and Alaska, United States....
and other Arctic populations living north of the tree line until they came into regular contact with Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an traders. Wood that is burned today in these regions mainly consists of the remains of condemned wooded structures. Driftwood is still used as kindling by some.

The "Old Man of the Lake

Old Man of the Lake

The Old Man of the Lake is the name given to a tall stump of tree, probably a tsuga, which has been bobbing vertically in Oregon's Crater Lake for more than a century....
" in Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Crater Lake is a caldera lake located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and famous for its deep blue color and water clarity....
, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
is a full-size tree that has been bobbing vertically in the lake for more than a century. Due to the cold water of the lake, the tree has been well preserved.

Driftwood can be used as part of decorative furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body , provide storage, or hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground....
or other art

Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
forms, and is a popular element in the scenery of fish tanks.

Driftwood sculpture

Sculpture made of driftwood has been constructed on beaches or mudflat

Mudflat

Mudflats are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries....
s.

At Kullaberg
Kullaberg

Kullaberg is a nature reserve situated on a peninsula of land protruding into the Kattegat in H?gan?s Municipality near the town of M?lle in southwest Sweden....
, Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, Lars Vilke created Nimis
Ladonia (micronation)

Ladonia is a micronation, proclaimed in 1996 as the result of a years-long court battle between artist Lars Vilks and local authorities over three sculptures....
a driftwood artwork in the year 1980. This sculpture and two others led to the declaration of Ladonia
Ladonia (micronation)

Ladonia is a micronation, proclaimed in 1996 as the result of a years-long court battle between artist Lars Vilks and local authorities over three sculptures....
as an independent nation.
Sculptures were created on the Emeryville, California
Emeryville, California

Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley, California and Oakland, California, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay....
mudflat and marsh area of San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean....
in the late 1960s.
A driftwood sculpture was constructed in the d' (France) by the visitors to the exhibition "Marcher dans le pas des glaneurs" organized by "A Flots perdus" (Arlésiens artists), in March 2008.
The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy (sometimes called the "Green Oscars") are sculpted out of driftwood.

Driftwood

In history

Driftwood sculpture

Gallery