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Zooming Into Sand

Jan 29, 2011 02:00 PM
Yellow gemstones or mineral crystals scattered on a surface.

Incredible. There's a type of sand (found only on the small Okinawan island of Iriomote) in which each grain resembles a tiny star. And I never would have known, if it hadn't been for blogger Jason Kottke's pal Mouser. Mouser collects sand from all around the world, and then documents each sample with a macro lens:

Vial containing sand or granulated material held in a hand.

A vial of Pāpōhaku Beach sand to show scale. Click on the second icon below to see the same sand magnified.

Colorful assortment of smooth pebbles and small stones.
Vial containing sand or granulated material held in a hand.

A vial of Pāpōhaku Beach sand to show scale. Click on the second icon below to see the same sand magnified.

Colorful assortment of smooth pebbles and small stones.

Brown sugar granules.

Pure orange sand from Coral Sand Dunes, Utah.

Yellow and black mineral grains.

Sand from Papakōlea Beach. Mouser says: "The green grains are olivine, the black are basalt, and the white are possibly bits of shell. Green sand is reasonably rare; the southern tip of the big island of Hawai'i is the most common place to get it."

Collection of small seashells scattered on a surface.

Star sand, found only on a few beaches in southern Japan, made of "the calcified shells of tiny organisms only a few milimeters across."

Starlike microscopic organism with a perforated surface.

A grain of star greatly magnified under the microscope.

Colorful pebbles on a sandy beach.

White, soft sand from Kichanga Lodge Beach, Zanzibar.

Gravel and small stones texture.

Sand from a glacial runoff on Kilimanjaro.

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