What is it?

Sand Analysis  

To See a World in a Grain of Sand — A collaborative project

Sand Lab A world of sand

The Collector’s Box — Soil Projects Atelier NL was asked by geologist Richard Fortey to visualize the material transformation of one square meter of earth from Grym’s Dyke Wood. In the hands of Atelier NL, the native earth and stone yeilded a unique array of pigments, ceramics, and glass. The flint sparked as it was crushed and ground into a fine powder. When exposed to high temperatures, the flint powder melted into white, green, and bluish glass. The tough earth, kneaded, cleaned, and dried, was then exposed to a gradation of extreme temperatures. A bold array of pigments and ceramic tiles resulted, ranging from warm creamy brown to rich peat. In one small patch of ground in Grym’s Dyke Wood, Atelier NL found all of the resources to make a variety of paints, pigments, ceramic tiles, and glass.

Running out of sand

Why the world is running out of sand  

It may be little more than grains of weathered rock, and can be found in deserts and on beaches around the world, but sand is also the world’s second most consumed natural resource.

Why Sand Disappears At An Alarming Rate

 

Sand Is in Such High Demand, People Are Stealing Tons of It 

 

Micheal Welland on sand

From The Abundance and Scarcity of Sand — symposium Atelier NL found on Through the Sandglass

 

The Abundance & Scarcity of Sand Symposium: Michael Welland from Atelier NL on Vimeo.

The Abundance and Scarcity of Sand' is a symposium focused on the critical discussion of sand as one of the most quickly disappearing natural resources in the world. Every year, we remove billions of tons of sand from beaches, rivers, oceans and land, and lock it away in our infrastructure and technologies. This has resulted in what experts are now calling a global sand scarcity. Hosted by Atelier NL & MU, this symposium invites artists, designers, scientists, environmentalists, and the local community to participate in both lectures and in-depth conversations regarding the environmental challenges and potential solutions surrounding sand. 

We dedicate this symposium to the memory of Micheal Welland (1946-2017), British geologist and author of the award-winning book ‘Sand’: A Journey Through Science and the Imagination'. Micheal had a profound poetic understanding of life and the natural world and his passion for sand inspired this very symposium. His spirit will never leave us and neither will his words. In memory of Michael Welland 

We were deeply saddened to hear that Michael Welland, one of our Whizz Pop Boffins, passed away last month.  

Michael was a geologist and sand expert who advised Whizz Pop Bang on all things sandy and rocky, and taught us everything we know about building amazing sandcastles. He was enormously supportive and enthusiastic about the magazine from the start. Always full of fantastic suggestions and inspiring ideas, Michael was a real asset to have on board. He will be greatly missed.

 

SAND WARS from Atelier NL on Vimeo.

Road trip! New Mexico, Arizona, Utah.

It was not too crowded with other visitors there the day we visited. Entering Arches National Park, thank you Mike Carpenter for sharing your video. 

 

Sand Dune Arch

  

La Sal Mountain, Fiery Furnace, Delicate Arch Park Avenue Trailhead, and Balanced Rock.

Petrified Forest, do yourself a favor and check out the map before you go into the Petrified Forest. We did not do that and we were very sorry. 

I mapped out where I collected sand the the route we took on our road trip. I am starting to put it all in vials. Will take photos later.

Sand locations:

Hwy 165, Placitas NM-  fine, side of road, reddish, brown

Hwy 165, Placitas NM- fine, side of road, yellowish, brown 

Tiponi Point, Pertrified National Park, NM - fine with white flakes,  dark red

Crystal Forest, Pertrified National Park, NM  

Giant Logs, Rainforest Museum, Pertrified National Park, NM - fine,  dark  brown grey  

Hwy 89, Near Cameron, AZ

Hwy 89, Near Navaho Nation, Cameron, AZ

Hwy 89, Navaho Nation, outside Cameron, AZ - side of hwy, light yellow beige  

Hwy 89,  Navaho Nation, Tuba City Unified District, AZ -  fine, off road, dark red  

Hwy 160, Red Bluffs, Kayenta, AZ   

Hwy 163, Monument Valley, AZ - very fine, road side, dark red  

Hwy 163, Monument Valley, AZ - very fine, road side, dark red  

Hwy 163, PhotoPoint, Monument Valley, AZ - road side, dark red  

Hwy 2161, Mexican Hat Rock, AZ - fine, road side, dark red  

Hwy 191, Twin Rocks, Bluff, AZ      

Arches Scenic Dr., National Arches Entrance, AZ -  fine, road side, very light beige  

Park Avenue Trailhead, National Arches Park, AZ   

La Sal, National Arches Park, AZ - very fine La Sal viewing very dark red  

Balance Rock, National Arches Park, AZ - fine viewing area light orange  

Delicate Arch, National Arches Park, AZ - fine viewing area #1 light brown  

Delicate Arch, National Arches Park, AZ - course viewing area #1 light brown with blue copper rocks  

Fiery Furnace, National Arches Park, AZ - fine viewing area med red  

Sand Dune Arch, National Arches Park, AZ - very fine, inside arch med red   

Hwy 191, near the entrance National Arches Park, AZ - fine, road side, dark red  

Hwy 191,  greenish color by the blue mountains - fine, road side, greenish  

Hwy 191, leaving Moab -  fine copper mine ridge bluish green

Hwy 6, Tie Fork Rest Area, Utah - fine, rest area, dark grey  

Hwy 191, Gateway Hotel, Moab Utab - fine, road side, light tan. 

Finally got around to cleaning, sifting and getting my sand into vials. One from Savage River, Denali National Park from Faith, two from Idaho, Alturus Lake and Redfish Lake

 Finally finished my vacation map 

 

Blue-Green depost

My husband and I recently took a road trip and drove through Moab, Utah and Arches National Park. I kept seeing this blue-green dirt on the mountain side and was totally intriqued and wanted some of it for my collection. I did finally find a place to gather a little bit for collection. I finally got all of my samples logged in and numbered, hopefully, I will get them in vials soon. 

"It's the Morrison Formation! It's silty and muddy rock with some sandstones deposited in a river floodplain environment. The green stuff is iron deposited in an anoxic (underwater) environment, while the red is oxidized iron. The formation is also full of uranium. When you're driving around in southern Utah and see these green/red/white/purple sequences, it's usually either the Morrison Formation or the Petrified Forest member of the Chinle Formation."

Sand project

I found this sand project on Behance by Silvia Becker and I love the images! "Sand is one of the most important raw materials in the world. It seems familiar and everyday. But no two sands are alike. Only when you look at it through a microscope do you discover all its beauty and how different it can be in its components.
The pictures are from my calendar project for the year 2021.

How to Become a Sand Collector

This is directly from the INTERNATIONAL SAND COLLECTORS SOCIETY website 

Anyone can become a sand collector. Children to seniors, even people with disabilities have enjoyed this pastime for many years. There is however, one important factor in becoming a psammophile and that is the ability to observe and wonder. This is key. One must learn how to look closely at not only sand but of the surrounding area in which one is collecting. Whether a beach, lake, river, desert, etc., the surrounding area will tell you much about the sand beneath your feet and how it got there. 

One of the myths about sand collecting is that once you have collected a sample from a given area, there is no need to look further as all sand will be exactly the same – not true.

Often one will discover that sand can be quite different sample to sample within just a few yards or even feet of each other, so it is very important to observe and wonder.

Some of the equipment one will need:

Plastic baggies, film containers or nearly anything that is damp proof, easy to carry, and inexpensive. One should keep a supply of these containers in one’s car, luggage, tote bag, etc., while traveling, camping, or hiking. One never knows when one will come across an interesting sand sample. The size of your sample bag or container will depend if you wish to collect only for yourself or if you might wish to exchange your samples with others. One should also have handy a permanent marker or some other writing instrument to record its location on the bag, container or note pad. Never assume you will remember where your gathered sample is from, especially if you are planning on collecting more than one sample.

A spoon will be useful in digging sand particularly if the ground is hard packed or frozen. Though plastic spoons will work, and especially recommended if traveling by air, they do tend to break.

A magnifying, hand held hand-lens or eye-loop is also wise to carry and one can see their sample close-up for differences within samples from the same locale. Those items are about all one needs in the field to collect sand.

Once home, your samples should be logged into a logbook, file card system, computer, etc. Try noting as much information you can about the location that sample comes from, e.g. date collected, state, town, park, river, beach, etc. Try to be as specific as you can as to where on the beach you gathered your sample, low tide mark,high tide mark, upper beach area, left of pier, etc. If you have taken more than one sample from the same place, mark it as such (variety #1, variety #2, etc.). Record as much information about that sample’s origins as possible. It will be important. 

After logging in your data, you will want to contain your sample, either in a smaller baggie, bottle, jar, etc. The container you display your sample in will be of your choosing but one should keep a few things in mind. If having to purchase this container, what costs are you willing to bear? Be aware, a sand collection can grow quite rapidly, so weight, expense, and the amount of storage or display room you have should be a consideration at the onset. Once a container has been selected, you may wish to attach an outside display label for others to read. One can also add a paper label within the samples itself in the event the outer label falls off; however, before ever adding paper into a sand sample, that sample must be perfectly dry for the slightest moisture will penetrate the paper and make it unreadable in little time. One can make sure a sample is dry by airing it out on several layers of old newspapers or in an oven.

Other items one might wish to make or purchase are:

A sieve with a grid size no larger than 2 mm

At least one good road atlas and a world atlas to track down where samples come from and their correct spellings 

A funnel for pouring sand from your gathering bags into your display containers

Again a hand-lens or eye-loop (10x is fine)

And a microscope (again10x-20x is good) Other items might include a magnet to test for magnetite in a sample and white household vinegarfor testing for carbonate sands. I cannot stress the point strong enough. Begin with a good record keeping system, record everything, people who donated samples to your collection, those people you have made trades with and what samples you exchanged with them, etc. Also, your display containers will generally be your biggest expense. Find a container that will fit your needs and finances, and be sure these containers will be available whenever you need to purchase them. Consider their size and weight with sand within. Many beginning collectors either do not realize these considerations early or choose to ignore this advice and then start to rethink their situation some years later. It is time consuming and expensive to change one’s mind afterwards. Do it right at the beginning. That is about all one truly needs to become a full-fledged sand collector and with that, one can indeed discover the world, grain by grain.

Important Note: One should be mindful about the area in which they are exploring and if that area is privately owned. Also, there are areas on federal, state, and city/town lands that restrict people from collecting items. Be aware of where you are and if you may take sand from that area.