This resource includes a PowerPoint explaining how microscopy can be used to analyse sands, information about how sand samples are categorised, a summary sheet to use when looking at sands and photographs of seven different sands. A pdf of each of these sands details what is in the sand. The resource was produced by Lis Rushworth, Maggie & Peter Williams for one of the workshops organised for the Earth Science Teachers’ Association Conference which was hosted by the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Liverpool in September 2024.
The seven sand samples
Desert sand from Libya
Beach sand from Kilauea, Hawaii
Garnet placer deposits from El Hoyazo de Nijar, Almeria, south east Spain
Washed sample of Late Devensian Shirdley Hill Sand from Liverpool
Beach deposit from Vik, Iceland
Cold water carbonate beach sand from Dog’s Bay, Co. Galway
Beach skeletal sand from the Bahamas