WEATHERING CLOSE-UP

Close-up views of sand from around the world: These miniature pieces of rock (about 1 or 2 millimeters across) are broken off from larger rock outcrops close to the shore. The tiny rocks are further dismantled and weathered by the streaming and pounding of the water over thousands of years. They become grains of sand that are kept between the water and the shore by the force of water and the opposing stability of the land. Light green tiny quartz pebbles were just in between my toes in Kauai this January. The sands in my southern california backyard are made of clear quartz and shell. Sands vary in composition according to which rocks they came from--rocks that are part of the landscape at the shoreline. Clear silica (in the form of quartz rocks) is the most common sand particle. Pink and green crystals are garnet stones. Shiny black stones often break off from volcanic rock.

namibia

zushi beach, japan kauai

glacial sand. Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota