The worlds of sand, salt and pepper are far from monotone
April 22, 2019 9:45 AM Subscribe
When most people hear "sand," they think of fine grains of white to tan, but the word "sand" is actually used for a "particle size" rather than for a "material." Sand is a loose, granular material with particles that range in size between 1/16 millimeter and 2 millimeters in diameter. And that's where the similarities end, and the diversity begins. Sand isn't a boring material if you know what you are looking at! (Geology.com - sand grains from around the world) Hawai'i alone has at least , black, green and whitish sand, while Business Insider lists pink, red, orange, violet, black, grey and white sands found around the world. But if you're storing bottles of sand at home, don't confuse them with your different colored salts (Wide Open Eats) and peppercorns (Food Republic).
Okay, I love this for itself and also because it give me an excuse to share thoughts on sand by Rachel Carson.
Thank you for this post!
posted by Caxton1476 at 10:17 AM on April 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
And the materials of the beach are themselves steeped in antiquity. Sand is a substance that is beautiful, mysterious, and infinitely variable; each grain on a beach is the result of processes that go back into the shadowy beginnings of life, or of the earth itself....And much else of beauty in her book of wonders, The Edge of the Sea.
We think of rock as a symbol of durability, yet even the hardest rock shatters and wears away when attacked by rain, frost or surf. But a grain of sand is almost indestructible. It is the ultimate product of the waves - the minute, hard core of mineral that remains after years of grinding and polishing. The tiny grains of wet sand lie with little space between them, each holding a film of water about itself by capillary attraction. Because of this cushioning liquid film, there is little further weathering by attrition. Even the blows of heavy surf cannot cause one grain of sand to rub against another.
Thank you for this post!
posted by Caxton1476 at 10:17 AM on April 22, 2019 [10 favorites]
I was a little disappointed that this article didn't mention my favorite fact about sand.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:18 AM on April 22, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:18 AM on April 22, 2019 [5 favorites]
Sand isn’t boring because you can just dig it, which is cheaper.
Update: boring in sand is exciting
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:13 AM on April 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
Update: boring in sand is exciting
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:13 AM on April 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
There is neither sand nor paper in sandpaper.
( I did a QA database for Norton Coated Abrasives decades ago... )
posted by mikelieman at 11:29 AM on April 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
( I did a QA database for Norton Coated Abrasives decades ago... )
posted by mikelieman at 11:29 AM on April 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
a neat video on mechanically stabilized earth - a block of sand is made strong enough to hold up the corner of a car.
posted by exogenous at 11:59 AM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by exogenous at 11:59 AM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Great post OP. Sand is amazing. I collect it the way some people collect shells, small scoops in crisp packets whenever I hit a shore I haven't visited before. It's a favourite post-trip ritual to wash it through with distilled water, dry it out and decant into a small bottle with a curl of paper labelling its origin - or, at least, the place it was residing when I came along.
For anyone else interested in digging (!) further into the science, this book is a great read: Sand: A journey through science and the imagination by geologist, Michael Welland.
For those with a more artistic bent, the AtelierNL projects To See the World in A Grain of Sand and Sand Journey are fascinating explorations into how people have worked and utilised myriad varieties of the stuff from ancient times to today.
posted by freya_lamb at 12:37 PM on April 22, 2019 [6 favorites]
For anyone else interested in digging (!) further into the science, this book is a great read: Sand: A journey through science and the imagination by geologist, Michael Welland.
For those with a more artistic bent, the AtelierNL projects To See the World in A Grain of Sand and Sand Journey are fascinating explorations into how people have worked and utilised myriad varieties of the stuff from ancient times to today.
posted by freya_lamb at 12:37 PM on April 22, 2019 [6 favorites]
it's coarse and rough and irritating... and it gets everywhere
posted by entropicamericana at 12:37 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 12:37 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
I went to Dubai several times in the early 90s before it turned into Las Vegas East. One of common types of souvenir was a sand painting* in glass like an ant farm, made with seven different colors of sand representing the seven emirates.
* more like a flat sand bottle, I guess, less like a bonseki, both things I just discovered looking for an example. Thanks for the post!
posted by ctmf at 12:53 PM on April 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
* more like a flat sand bottle, I guess, less like a bonseki, both things I just discovered looking for an example. Thanks for the post!
posted by ctmf at 12:53 PM on April 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'm kind of side-eyeing the salt article, having gotten to this section:
"Of the different types of salt, Himalayan salt is the purest form of salt in the world and is harvested by hand from Khewra Salt Mine in the Himalayan Mountains of Pakistan. Its color ranges from off-white to deep pink. Rich in minerals - it contains the 84 natural minerals and elements found in the human body - Himalayan salt is used in spa treatments, as well as the kitchen."
Exactly how is it the purest and yet full of other things? What standard are they using for purest? Table salt is usually pretty damn purified.
posted by tavella at 12:54 PM on April 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
"Of the different types of salt, Himalayan salt is the purest form of salt in the world and is harvested by hand from Khewra Salt Mine in the Himalayan Mountains of Pakistan. Its color ranges from off-white to deep pink. Rich in minerals - it contains the 84 natural minerals and elements found in the human body - Himalayan salt is used in spa treatments, as well as the kitchen."
Exactly how is it the purest and yet full of other things? What standard are they using for purest? Table salt is usually pretty damn purified.
posted by tavella at 12:54 PM on April 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
I grew up on beaches, and as a kid I was so nearsighted I could practically use my bare eyes as microscopes, so I spent a lot of time laying down in the sand getting sun burnt and running the sand through my fingers, marveling at all the billions of tiny crystals, sea shells and stones.
posted by loquacious at 1:14 PM on April 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by loquacious at 1:14 PM on April 22, 2019 [4 favorites]
Years ago I collected a sizable vial of just green (Olivine, a form of jade) sand from the otherwise tan beach at Lumahai on Kauai. It was pretty easy as the granules were significantly larger than the rest of the mix. I don't know if this is a typical component of what's to be found there or if this was a more seasonal thing. It was winter and the beach was pretty carved up---and definitely not a place you'd want to get into the water.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:37 PM on April 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:37 PM on April 22, 2019 [1 favorite]
tavella: I'm kind of side-eyeing the salt article, having gotten to this section: "Of the different types of salt, Himalayan salt is the purest form of salt in the world..."
This could imply "naturally occurring in the world," which could be impressive, because "at places rock salt is 99% pure" and on "average 98% pure" (per Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation's current webpage on the Khewra Salt Mines; emphasis mine).
This is possible because it's very old salt, and not exposed to external contaminants, or so the promotional literature indicates.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:24 PM on April 22, 2019
This could imply "naturally occurring in the world," which could be impressive, because "at places rock salt is 99% pure" and on "average 98% pure" (per Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation's current webpage on the Khewra Salt Mines; emphasis mine).
This is possible because it's very old salt, and not exposed to external contaminants, or so the promotional literature indicates.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:24 PM on April 22, 2019
I adore sand. Some of my colleagues and I have looked at so much sand though a microscope that we have a little game in which we give each other sand to try to stump each other with not only where in the world it comes from but also what age it is - one can use the minerals and the micro organisms (or the bits of larger organisms if present.) The sand has to be relatively unique - for example, a good one was sand from near* the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado as it contains magnetite. The best sand to play this game with is a) a sample from a modern beach in which the sand has eroded from a nearby sandstone cliff face that is older, thus reworking older sand in with newer grains - particularly if there's a strong offshore current; and b) modern coral sand. It's a fun game and all of us keep an eye out, because there's so much information hidden in a handful of sand!
*nearby, because it is illegal to collect sand in certain places. . . like National Parks, World Heritage Sites, and Hawaiian beaches!
I'm kind of side-eyeing the salt article, having gotten to this section
I'm a geologist that works a lot with evaporites, which includes halite, pseudoscience's little propaganda carrier. And every single time I read these claims about Himalayan salt being "pure" it's everything I can do not to bust out laughing. The whole reason it's pink is BECAUSE OF ITS IMPURITIES. The pink color is mostly from magnesium and calcium; the salt itself is found in an area well known for other kinds of evaporites including potash and is interlayered with other kinds of strata including oil shales*. A lot of the salt there has to be processed because it's so not food safe! (P.S. I also don't know why they call it Jurassic salt so often, either. It's mostly Cambrian.) And these impurities are one of the reasons why it's not as crystalline as other salts (which also means it makes it easier to hew out in bits and blocks, hence the salt lamps and cooking blocks). Also if it did carry, the *cough* 84 natural minerals and elements, that would make it even less "pure". Does it more amorphous crystalline structure make it easier/better for certain applications? Perhaps. But it's not due to being more "pure".
I would not argue, however, that it doesn't have a different taste. Having tasted salts in situ all over the world, I would say that, indeed, salt without additives (looking at you, Hawaiian sea salt) does taste different in different places, as well as have different textures - precisely because of the various and differing impurities and their overall percentages of pure NaCl. Salt evaporated from a Jurassic sea is as different as one from a Cambrian, just as salt from the Atlantic varies from salt from the Pacific, as all of the above differs as salt from an inland sea or lake like the Great Salt Lake, due to not only different water chemistry in the source brines but also what may or may not have already been evaporated out, including water content. (How much moisture is in your salt will affect the taste.) That's even before processing and the addition of anti-caking agents or iodine. (Not counting salts created through the Alberger process, though.) Just a note - salt that is formed today and harvested, like fleur de sal, may be also pink due to an alga named Dunaliella salina, a wonderful little halophile. How do you think that little micro-organism affects the taste, my friends?
*Salt is often associated with oil and gas deposits, because it's a non-permeable seal that creates a formidable petroleum trap.
posted by barchan at 2:30 PM on April 22, 2019 [18 favorites]
*nearby, because it is illegal to collect sand in certain places. . . like National Parks, World Heritage Sites, and Hawaiian beaches!
I'm kind of side-eyeing the salt article, having gotten to this section
I'm a geologist that works a lot with evaporites, which includes halite, pseudoscience's little propaganda carrier. And every single time I read these claims about Himalayan salt being "pure" it's everything I can do not to bust out laughing. The whole reason it's pink is BECAUSE OF ITS IMPURITIES. The pink color is mostly from magnesium and calcium; the salt itself is found in an area well known for other kinds of evaporites including potash and is interlayered with other kinds of strata including oil shales*. A lot of the salt there has to be processed because it's so not food safe! (P.S. I also don't know why they call it Jurassic salt so often, either. It's mostly Cambrian.) And these impurities are one of the reasons why it's not as crystalline as other salts (which also means it makes it easier to hew out in bits and blocks, hence the salt lamps and cooking blocks). Also if it did carry, the *cough* 84 natural minerals and elements, that would make it even less "pure". Does it more amorphous crystalline structure make it easier/better for certain applications? Perhaps. But it's not due to being more "pure".
I would not argue, however, that it doesn't have a different taste. Having tasted salts in situ all over the world, I would say that, indeed, salt without additives (looking at you, Hawaiian sea salt) does taste different in different places, as well as have different textures - precisely because of the various and differing impurities and their overall percentages of pure NaCl. Salt evaporated from a Jurassic sea is as different as one from a Cambrian, just as salt from the Atlantic varies from salt from the Pacific, as all of the above differs as salt from an inland sea or lake like the Great Salt Lake, due to not only different water chemistry in the source brines but also what may or may not have already been evaporated out, including water content. (How much moisture is in your salt will affect the taste.) That's even before processing and the addition of anti-caking agents or iodine. (Not counting salts created through the Alberger process, though.) Just a note - salt that is formed today and harvested, like fleur de sal, may be also pink due to an alga named Dunaliella salina, a wonderful little halophile. How do you think that little micro-organism affects the taste, my friends?
*Salt is often associated with oil and gas deposits, because it's a non-permeable seal that creates a formidable petroleum trap.
posted by barchan at 2:30 PM on April 22, 2019 [18 favorites]
barchan: Some of my colleagues and I have looked at so much sand though a microscope that we have a little game in which we give each other sand to try to stump each other with not only where in the world it comes from
Neat! I was hoping to find a map of the sands of the world, but I did not find one. I only now realize would really be a geologic map of the world but limited to sands. Do you know if such a thing exists?
barchan: I also don't know why they call it Jurassic salt so often, either. It's mostly Cambrian.
I blame Cretaceous Park, I mean Jurassic Park. Because of that first movie, everything vaguely from "the era of dinosaurs" becomes Jurassic This or Jurassic That.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:53 PM on April 22, 2019
Neat! I was hoping to find a map of the sands of the world, but I did not find one. I only now realize would really be a geologic map of the world but limited to sands. Do you know if such a thing exists?
barchan: I also don't know why they call it Jurassic salt so often, either. It's mostly Cambrian.
I blame Cretaceous Park, I mean Jurassic Park. Because of that first movie, everything vaguely from "the era of dinosaurs" becomes Jurassic This or Jurassic That.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:53 PM on April 22, 2019
And to really bum you out -- that "pure" salt could be contaminated with wind-borne microplastics, if it blows into the mines. After all, there have been microplastics found in the French Pyrenees Mountains (Ars Technica).
posted by filthy light thief at 3:06 PM on April 22, 2019
posted by filthy light thief at 3:06 PM on April 22, 2019
Whoa, those sand bottles!! It's like Currier-and-Ives meets a Mandala and stuffed into a bottle. Wishing a museum had a collection of those.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 3:11 PM on April 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 3:11 PM on April 22, 2019 [3 favorites]
I can't think of a linkable map off the top of my head that shows specific sand types in a global fashion, although there are a few that have locations of sand fields, like the book Global Sand Seas and this more recent pub on sand dunes and climate change. And here's a map of coastal beaches from Nature. I'd think, aside from certain very unique sand types, the sheer variability in how to categorize a sand would be a problem. But! Sand Atlas does have maps for some specific kinds of sands, such as coral sand, scattered through its website. (It also has a good "sand types" page, and references some locations particular to each type.)
posted by barchan at 3:44 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by barchan at 3:44 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Looking at the sand is one of my favourite things to do on the beach. So much variety in just a small dab! This post is fun, thanks.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:07 PM on April 22, 2019
posted by jacquilynne at 4:07 PM on April 22, 2019
One of my favorite podcasts recently did an interview with sand. TL;DR sand thinks we as a species would be better off if we thought of ourselves as part of a collective. Also, they object to the story of Sysyphus on purely geological grounds.
posted by panama joe at 6:06 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by panama joe at 6:06 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
Take that, Anakin!
Has anyone mentioned the star-shaped sand in Okinawa? It's made of exoskeletons!
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 8:09 PM on April 22, 2019
Has anyone mentioned the star-shaped sand in Okinawa? It's made of exoskeletons!
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 8:09 PM on April 22, 2019
1. I work with a LOT of geoscientists and geotechnical engineers (and learned early that they get mad if you say "dirt" instead of "soil"), and I was once up at a mine in Northern Canada on a site that was VERY VERY SANDY EVERYWHERE and one of them reached down and grabbed a handful of sand indistinguishable from all the other sand everywhere, and rubbed it between his fingers and said "huh, that's kind of dirty" and I was all, fuck off, you clowns are just making shit up to fuck with me at this point.
2. I had a 12 hour layover in NZ once and at the recommendation of the rental car guy drove to Piha, near Auckland. Amazing place in a thousand ways (and unexpectedly also gifted me with an excellent eggs benedict) but the beach sand was like dark coffee grounds. Never seen anything like it before or since.
3. (not really related but this post reminded me and I spent a few minutes trying to find it but no luck, there was a craigslist post once involving a free pile of dirt that the poster took a picture of and shopped googly eyes onto it and then talked about itself in first person.)
posted by hearthpig at 8:36 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
2. I had a 12 hour layover in NZ once and at the recommendation of the rental car guy drove to Piha, near Auckland. Amazing place in a thousand ways (and unexpectedly also gifted me with an excellent eggs benedict) but the beach sand was like dark coffee grounds. Never seen anything like it before or since.
3. (not really related but this post reminded me and I spent a few minutes trying to find it but no luck, there was a craigslist post once involving a free pile of dirt that the poster took a picture of and shopped googly eyes onto it and then talked about itself in first person.)
posted by hearthpig at 8:36 PM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]
hearthpig: they get mad if you say "dirt" instead of "soil"
There are a number of professions tied to soil, where folks in that profession get mad if you call it "dirt," and Landscape Architecture is another such field. [baDUM!]
Back when I was studying to be a landscape architect, we had a soil science class where the professor was definitely an avid appreciator of different soils, and I don't doubt he could identify if some particular sand was dirty. He taught us to understand different soils that same way, rubbing it between your fingers, and he went as far as to taste some. Soil is serious business :)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:58 AM on April 24, 2019
There are a number of professions tied to soil, where folks in that profession get mad if you call it "dirt," and Landscape Architecture is another such field. [baDUM!]
Back when I was studying to be a landscape architect, we had a soil science class where the professor was definitely an avid appreciator of different soils, and I don't doubt he could identify if some particular sand was dirty. He taught us to understand different soils that same way, rubbing it between your fingers, and he went as far as to taste some. Soil is serious business :)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:58 AM on April 24, 2019
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posted by Fizz at 10:12 AM on April 22, 2019