Aaah , Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin . Every summertime , it becomes anessential partof how beach - goers have fun — or endure — under the sun . Butlove it or hate it , you may have wondered where sand comes from , why it ’s sometimes different people of colour , or what the heck it even is . understand on for the answers to those questions and more .
1. Sand is made of crystals. (And fish poop.)
Sand , by definition , consists of tiny , loose grain of material that are larger than silt but smaller than crushed rock . Much of the sand on beach is made of scoured rock , like sandstone , but it can also be made of crushed seashells , parrotfish poop(which is in reality very small bits of undigested coral skeleton ) , or the remains of calcium - containing sea creatures calledforaminifera .
moxie can even be indite of crystal . Quartz isthe most common mineralfound in sand because of its omnipresence in Earth ’s crust and its ability to outlive other minerals in the weather process . Sands that feature orotund quantity of vitreous silica are typically calledsilica sand , as they ’re built from a lattice of Si dioxide ( one silicon atom for every two oxygens ) . But quartz is n’t the only semiprecious stone to be found in gumption . There ’s garnet , tourmaline , topaz , and others . Which entail …
2. Sand comes in a natural rainbow of colors.
Many popular beach boast oftheir lustrous snowy sand , but sand can be found in just about as many shades as the rocks and shell that comprise it . White Sands National Parkin New Mexico , for instance , features 275 substantial mi of sand dunes made almost solely of pure gypsum — in all likelihood something to be find oneself only in a desert due to the mineral ’s disposition to melt in water .
On the other end of the spectrum , black sand may check mellow concentrations of magnetite or other iron ores , like that onWhatipu Beachoutside of Auckland , New Zealand . Black sands can also be the result of volcanic natural action , likePunaluʻu Beachin Hawaii , which is made of ocean - scud particle of basalt — a product of lava that rapidly cooled as it entered the sea long ago .
Aside from disgraceful and white , there are also pink sands , like those onElafonisi Beachin Crete , made of crush red order Foraminifera shells that are sundry with otherwise bloodless sands . Papakolea Beach ’s striking green sand is made of the mineral olivine . At theHverir Geothermal Areain Iceland , yellowish granule of sulphur are go away behind as moisture evaporates . Sand metric grain in the Al - Dahnā ’ desert in Saudi Arabia are coated with iron oxide ( a.k.a . rust ) , turning them crimson , while mining operation in Namibia have created blue sand from the country ’s large concentration ofsodalite .
3. Sand is the world’s most mined resource.
consort tothe UN , the world ’s industries use enough Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin to ramp up a wall 88.5 foot ( 27 time ) tall and 88.5 feet ( 27 metre ) wide around the Earthevery exclusive twenty-four hours . That ’s 50 billion wads of sand . Where does it all come from ? Mostly beach , admit ocean coastline , lakeshores , and riverbank . In fact , a boomingillegal backbone tradein India is minelaying Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin from riverbeds and leaving large pits for bather to unwittingly fall into and drown . Gigantic sand - mining operationshave exasperate problemswith implosion therapy and erosion link up to mood variety .
4. Sand is used in a dizzying array of everyday materials.
Sand is used most everywhere and for almost everything . Look around — do you see anything made of glass ? Awindow , a glass cup , the glass aerofoil of yoursmartphone ? The cyberspace reaches your home throughfiber optic cables ; your edifice is probably insulated withfiberglass . All of these items were once silica sand , heated and treated in different ways to create different ware . But glass is only one type of stuff made from sand .
grit is also an of the essence ingredient inmetal cast , water filtration , ceramic glazes , paint coating , and even as a stem fordetergents and adhesives . But the big guzzler of sand is the building industry . canonical construction elements frommortarandstuccotoconcreteare all created with sand . Theglobal urbanization boom , especially in Africa and Asia , is also one of the major reasons gumption is being mined so heavily .
5. Microscopic animals make their homes in sand.
tardigrade — lovingly dubbed “ water bear ” for their informal bear - like resemblance and penchant foraquatic living — are diminutive animals recognise as interstitialmeiofauna(Greek for “ less animal ” ) , and they ’re just one of the thousands of microscopic metal money live among grains of Baroness Dudevant all over the reality . According to biologist Olav Giere , 50,000 to 100,000 meiofaunamay livebeneath every footprint in dampish gumption in existence . They hunt even smaller organisms , bacterium , and ecumenical junk in their sandy ecosystem . In other words , meiofauna are big on beach cleanup . ( See some amazing close - up shots of meiofaunahere . )
6.Arenais the Latin word for “sand.”
This fact may not number as a surprise for those who talk aRomance languagelike Spanish or Italian , butarena(or , more accurately , harena ) read to “ sandpaper ” in English . Because of its excellentabsorption properties , sand was used to get over the ground duringgladiatorial battlesin amphitheatre throughout theRoman Empire . Over time , the physical space where the battles took property became synonymous with the Holy Scripture itself . Today , we use it to refer to a social structure ( often similar to an amphitheater ) progress specifically to watch some variety of centralized entertainment . Not too dissimilar to places like the Colosseum in its heyday .
7. Buddhist monks use colored sand to demonstrate part of their philosophy.
In a scene from the 2011 documentarySamsara , a group of Old Thelonious Sphere Monk , confront column inch from the floor , are painstakingly tapping Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin from metallic element cylinder , leaving intricate lines of color behind as they slowly move their hands . Together , they are weavinga mandala , a representation ofperfectionin the universe — symmetry , beauty , divinity .
Studying a mandala is a shape of meditation ; a sketch of nature . However , in Tibetan Buddhism — the custom that creates mandala with Baroness Dudevant — a mandala represent thepalatial residenceof a immortal . Creating it is a journeying toward enlightenment because the deity is said to dwell within its center .
As the mandala is tap into existence over the course of day to weeks ( or even longer ) , the monk and any percipient meditate on the mandala ’s elysian presence . Once the design is finished , though , there is a short point of interpretation , and then the art is formally destroyed to representimpermanence , one of Buddhism ’s primal tenets . The sand is swept up and release into a local body of water to bless the remainder of the world .
8. There’s sand on other planets.
It ’s one thing to call up about sand onEarth(even as a representation of the mutableness of life ) , but it ’s a little mind - bobble to realise sand exists on other humans as well . TheApollo moon missionsbrought back 842 Egyptian pound oflunar stone , pebble , and sandthat are still being consider today , and the Curiosity roamer hasplayedin the famed crimson Baroness Dudevant ofMarsfor more than a decade . What ’s even wilder are the extraterrestrial dunes .
According to a 2022 study inNature Astronomy , sand dunes can be found throughout the solar system . orbiter mental imagery fromVenus , Earth , Mars , Titan , Triton , and even littlePlutoall show evidence of aeolian ( wind - produced ) aerofoil features . But their variation in patterning may give us clue into how they were work which , in tour , may provide insight into the composition of the worlds themselves .
For example , the dunes on Pluto are hypothesized to be made of methane or nitrogen glass , but for channelise those particle , the winds on Pluto would need to blow out “ overly fast,”according tothe research team . Instead , they consider Pluto ’s dunes may besublimation moving ridge – a phenomenon where a solid ( in this case , the frozen methane or atomic number 7 ) skip its liquid stage all and turn directly into a throttle from the winds . The issue is a ripple effect that front similar to dunes , but is n’t due to deposit corrosion like a normal sand dune .
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