Sand dunes contain other type of particles besides sand, including clay and silt.
So do sand dunes cantain sand?
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Yes, a sand dune primarily contains sand.
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A sand dune is much like the sand on a beach. It is very small particles of rock or other minerals. Silica (basically quartz) is the most common mineral. Sand on a beach may have higher amounts of calcium from broken shells and coral.
Silt may be mixed in with sand, but is not itself sand. Sand is defined by size. It is smaller than gravel and larger than silt.
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Talking about sand reminds me that we may soon run out of sand on an international scale because we have collectively consumed too much of it for industrial purposes.
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Besides sand, people also consume too much plastic bags or anything else that are related to plastic! Most of the products are packed with them. But I have been trying to use as least plastic bag as I can. Air condition as well.
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I have not heard that one before. Sand and quartz are very abundant.
I’m not even sure what all it’s used for. Of course silicon is used in semi-conductors, but there are alternatives like germanium. There are also sand castings. It’s used as an abrasive (sand paper, sand blasting, etc). They are used as quartz crystals to generate frequencies in electronics. But most of that is from larger quartz crystals, not sand.
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We are obviously facing a global sand shortage, especially due to increasing demand from urbanization:
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I can’t believe I didn’t think of concrete, especially since I used to do some concrete work.
The irony with China is that they’ve been on a massive tree planting campaign to reduce the encroachment of the Gobi Desert which has been growing rapidly.
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