sharing our knowledge.
Photographic gallery.  Thousands of particles under the microscope.
Baltic Sea Sand-Tallinn, Estonia Beach Through the Microscope

Baltic Sea Sand at Tallinn, Estonia

This sand is primarily quartz grains about 100 micrometers in diameter. These grains have been separated from the bulk sand using LST (Lithium heteropolytungstate) and mounted in Melt Mount, 1.704 refractive index. The grain in the lower left is mullite. The grain in the upper center is horblende.

Transmitted Crossed Circular Polarized Light

Definition/Function:

Significance in the Environment:

Characteristic Features:

Associated Particles:

References:

Greenberg, Gary, A GRAIN OF SAND: NATURE'S SECRET WONDER, Voyageur Press, 2008.

Welland, Michael, SAND: THE NEVER ENDING STORY, University of California Press, 2009.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun01/clsand.html
(Good Information on the microscopy of sand, Great site for more information on microscopy in general)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-grain-of-sand-natures-secret-wonder
(Good Information on Sand with links to more information on sand)

http://www.sciencelive.org/component/option,com_mediadb/task,play/idstr,Open-feeds_fsc_exploring_sedimentary_processes_fsc02_02_m4v/vv,-2/Itemid,97
(Brief, very informative video on what can be learned from the shape of a sand grain.)