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The environmentalist Rachel Carson wrote, "In every curving beach, in every grain of sand, there is a story of the Earth."
Sand comes from many locations, sources, and environments. Sand forms when rocks break down from weathering and eroding over thousands and even millions of years. Rocks take time to decompose, especially quartz (silica) and feldspar.
Often starting thousands of miles from the ocean, rocks slowly travel down rivers and streams, constantly breaking down along the way. Once they make it to the ocean, they further erode from the constant action of waves and tides.
The tan color of most sand beaches is the result of iron oxide, which tints quartz a light brown, and feldspar, which is brown to tan in its original form. Black sand comes from eroded volcanic material such as lava, basalt rocks, and other dark-colored rocks and minerals, and is typically found on beaches near volcanic activity. Black-sand beaches are common in Hawaii, the Canary Islands, and the Aleutians.
The by-products of living things also play an important part in creating sandy beaches. Bermuda's preponderance of pleasantly pink beaches results from the perpetual decay of single-celled, shelled organisms called foraminifera.
Less common but no less inviting beaches, devoid of quartz as a source of sand, rely on an entirely different ecologic process. The famous white-sand beaches of Hawaii, for example, actually come from the poop of parrotfish. The fish bite and scrape algae off of rocks and dead corals with their parrot-like beaks, grind up the inedible calcium-carbonate reef material (made mostly of coral skeletons) in their guts, and then excrete it as sand. At the same time that it helps to maintain a diverse coral-reef ecosystem, parrotfish can produce hundreds of pounds of white sand each year!
So the next time you unfurl your beach towel down by the shore, ponder the sand beneath you, which, as Rachel Carson said, is telling you a story about the Earth. You may be about to comfortably nestle down in the remains of million-year-old rocks. Then again, you may soon come to rest upon an endless heap of parrotfish poop.
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Sand evokes wonderful memories. Burying your toes in the sand, sandy shoes on the back porch, building sand castles, or the glory of waves lapping up on the sand all have special meaning. The mere mention of the word &#;sand&#; can bring a smile to one&#;s face, a relaxing calm, and a longing for the shore.
Hidden on every sandy shore is a mystery waiting to be solved. Each shoeful of sand holds many secrets. The story of sand is remarkable. How far did it travel and through what lands did it pass? Did it come from a blazing volcano, a wave-battered coral reef, or an ancient mountain? Sands betray their complex history to a skilled sleuth. A careful observer can read this history and tell the source of the sand, the climate at its source, the distance it traveled, and the character of the place where it was found. A close look at sands from around the world reveals their basic origins and how they vary with differences in climate and energy.
There are four common sources for sand: weathering of continental granitic rocks; weathering of oceanic volcanic rocks; skeletal remains of marine life; and chemical grains precipitated from water. Each source supplies different basic building blocks that will be changed by their journey to the sea. Continental granitic rocks are rich in pink and white blocky feldspars, platy and shiny flakes of mica, and glassy spheres of quartz. The first step in granite weathering produces a blocky particle called grus, and each grus particle is composed of several crystals. Grus quickly breaks down to individual crystals as it starts its journey. Along the way, some minerals break down to become soil, while others become physically abraded, smoothed and polished. Physical abrasion gradually causes grains to smooth and become spherical. They may become polished or matted.
Quartz is the most stable mineral, so sands derived from weathering of granites gradually become enriched in quartz as the other grains are dissolved and broken down. This chemical purification or increase in maturity may require thousands of miles of travel and may take thousands of years! Some sands have their journey interrupted by millennia when they are deposited in an environment. Pure quartz sand beaches belie their history &#; they are made up of the very old and wise travelers. Usually, quartz sand beaches also include other minor mineral types. In granites, the minor minerals are visually darker and usually denser. The so-called heavy minerals are different for the different source rocks and can be used to trace sands back to their origins. On many beaches, heavy minerals are selectively concentrated and give rise to the beautiful streaking patterns found in the intertidal zones.
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