Sand Collection

My name is Kate, and I manage the Collectors' Corner at the Science Museum. I collect sands from all over the world.

I have about 400 samples and have been collecting sands for about 20 years with the help of friends and acquaintances. My fascination began when I played at the Lake Michigan beach as a child. When I began collecting, I never imagined sands could be so different from one beach to the next.

I find sands interesting because the grains tell stories about millions of years of geologic history. In addition, I am intrigued at the beauty and variety of colors and textures, plus the surprises visible under magnification.

Visit the Collectors' Corner to see many varieties. Bring us a film can of dry sand from your next vacation to add to our collection!

Magnified Sands

Cape Canaveral, Florida

Many of the grains of sand found in Florida are shell fragments.

Hawaii

The green grains are olivine. The black grains are fragments of basaltic lava, the clear grains are quartz.

Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes, California

California Sand grains include many volcanic rock fragments.

Big Sur, California

The pink grains are garnet, the clear are quartz, and the black are magnetite.

Sand is a ground-up history of part of the earth's crust.

Where does sand come from?
Sand on the sea and lake shores comes from the weathering of rocks along the coastal regions and from continental mountains. The actions of freezing or thawing, blowing and bumping along by the wind and waves, or rolling or bouncing down a river reduces boulders to pebbles to sand grains.

Coarse or fine grains?
The sand grain size depends on the nature of the sea currents and waves. Small, light particles are carried far. Large, heavier particles sink more readily. Sorting of sand grains is forever going on. Some beaches have sand grains of all different sizes, others are well sorted with grains all of the same size. With every storm or tide, the materials is sifted or sorted so that beaches are continually being remade.

All the same or different colored sand grains?
One beach may contain all of one kind of sand grains. Another beach may contain sand grains of many kinds of rocks. The kinds of sand grains depends on the origin of the mother rock and the waves and currents. Other beaches may contains shells and coral fragments as "sand" grains.

Angular or round sand grains?
Sand grains can vary in shape. Well rounded grains have rolled around for longer than angular grains. "New" sand from recent volcanic eruptions or recently eroded rocks may be more angular.

Clear, black, green, or pink grains?
The most common rock or mineral in sand is quartz. It is insoluble in water, hard, and does not break down or decompose. Dark sands may contain hornblende, basalt, magnetite, or manganese. Coral and Shell parts in sand can be pink, white, striped, or notched.

Is sand important?
Sand is important in the manufacturing and oil businesses. Pure sand is used in glass making, sandblasting, and the sandpaper industries. Other sand is used to make pottery, for making casts for metal parts, and for making concrete.