Lying at just about 30 km away from my hometown Dresden, the Elbe Sandstone Mountains are an amazing touristic destination for this part of Germany. Their name (in German Elbsandsteingebirge) comes from the river Elbe breaking through sandstone peaks on its way from Czech Republic to the Northern Germany. The part of the mountains situated on German territory is called Sächsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland), a name given by two enthusiastic romantic painters fascinated by this magic landscape.

The formation of Elbe Sandstone Mountains started some million years ago, when a sea was covering the whole region. Sand and seashells transported from the neighbor Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) successively deposited on the sea bottom and got exposed when the sea water vanished away. Continuously exposed to erosion, layers made of quartz sand and clay formed the peaks that can be seen today between Pirna (the town where I work) and after the border with Czech Republic.

At the first look the mountains have a grayish color given by the aggressive meteorological conditions but studying them closer, one can see a wonderful palette of beautiful colors, varying from very bright nuances to almost pitch black. In many places, the eroded rocks are surrounded by pure quartz sands just laying on the ground, almost inviting to be collected. And this is what I did each time we hiked along the old paths: one sample from here, another one from there, trying not to disturb the million years old spirit of the mountains. This resulted in a nice bunch of samples from various well known locations among the Elbsandsteingebirge lovers: Königstein, Pfafenstein, Lilienstein, Kaiserkrone etc.

By the time of writing this article, I had 20 different sand samples from Sächsische Schweiz in my collection but the number will certainly grow during the incoming period. By regional train, it takes only half an hour from my place to get there and we plan at least a trip per week. My aim is to succeed fully representing the whole sandstone area and this is one of the sub-projects of my Sand Atlas album.

The entry no 879 in my collection contains a famous sample among sand collectors: garnet sand. The garnet is a group of minerals used since the old times as gemstone, some popular species including Uvarovite, Pyrope, Grossulaite, Almandite, Andradite, Spessartite. The garnet is also renowned for displaying the greatest variety of color than any other mineral, occurring in any color (except blue).

The sample in my collection belongs to Almandite species, it is purple and originates from Emerald Creek, Idaho (USA). Beside another location in India, Emerald Creek is the only place in the world that produces significant amounts of star garnets. The name “star” comes from the four- or six-ray star shape observed when the mineral is faceted, being also the reason why the garnet Idaho areas have been mined even since 1880 (although commercial mining did not start until 1940s).

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Additional info on Idaho star garnet:
Garnet Area Brochure from Idaho Panhandle National Forests (PDF file, 261 KB)

One of my most interesting sand samples just came today from Anneke, a very kind Dutch collector, to whom I have just sent some of my last Israeli sands. The sample I am speaking about was recorded with no. 843 in my Atlas and it amazed me from the first view: the color is a beautiful light blue, with small white intrusions.

“Blue sand? That can’t possible…” you might say but this is somehow only partially true. The sample is actually composed by crashed sodalite, a semi-precious mineral whose name reflects its high sodium content (chemical formula: Na₈[Cl₂|Al₆Si₆O₂₄]), use mainly as ornamental stone.

Sodalite was first discovered in 1806 in Greenland but started being used as ornament with 1891, in Ontario, Canada. The color of my sample is royal blue, but sodalite may also be grey, yellow, green or pink, very often with white paches. The place where my sample comes from is northern Namibia, on the banks of Kunene river at the border with Angola. Other sodalite deposits can be found in Ontario and Quebec (Canada), Arkansas (USA), as well as in Afghanistan, Brazil, Romania, Portugal, Russia etc.

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Additional info on sodalite:
See the complete mineral fact sheet at Mindat database.

The Mecklenburg Lake District (in German Mecklenburgische Seenplatte) forms the largest coherent lakes and canals areas in Germany. Part of the federal state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (DE-MV), the region is situated in the northern Germany, about half the distance between Berlin and Baltic Sea coast. Because of the abundant lakes and water bodies, the district is also called “the land of thousand lakes” and attracts plenty of tourists during the whole year.

Thanks to my colleague Claudia, who spent there a couple of days during this August, the region is represented in my Atlas of Sands by a couple of nice samples, each collected from a different lake: 816 (Mirower Lake), 817 (Tollensee Lake), 818 (Krakower Lake), 819 (Teterower Lake), 820 (Kummerower Lake), 821 (Malchiner Lake), and 822 (Ivenacker Lake).

Many thanks Claudia!!!

A highlight of our holiday in Romania during the summer of 2008 was a trip to an unique natural reservation: the mud volcanoes from Berca, Buzau county (RO-BZ). The spectacular feature of the reservation consists of 5-6 m high volcano-shaped geological formations caused by eruptions of gas and mud from over 3000 m depth.

Although the “mini-volcanoes” have the same principle as their bigger brothers, the “lava” produced is made of water and clay from underground layers. This is deposited in the form of mud at the top of the volcanoes, with the eruption of gases coming out like some lazy bubbles. The mud is cold and not hot because it is produced inside the Earth’s continental crust layers and not in the mantle. This allowed us to walk free on the Moon-like landscape and take plenty of photographs.

Before leaving, I took a small sample from the dried mud flowing down the slope and noticed that it smells somehow as petroleum. The reason for this might be the petroleum-rich layers traversed by the water and gases in their way to the surface.

Mud volcanoes are something funny and also fascinating, since they allow you to get a glimse on how the “real” ones work, allowing also a very close observation. For those interested and occasionally travelling to Romania, see the sample no 750 in my collection for exact coordinates.

During our trip to Romania this winter I’ve got to learn about a quartz sand quarry not far from the place where we spent most of the time. The sand is industrially exploited by a company called STICLOVAL due to its high purity and suitability for fabrication of glass.

The sands are almost white and have a different content of iron and silica, according to the company’s profile. I was just lucky to receive some samples from different horizons and with different degrees of purity from somebody working in the company – see the numbers 699, 701, 702, and 703:

A relatively rare color of sands in collections is green and this is due to the fact that not so many minerals or combination of minerals can produce it. One of them is called glauconite, an iron silicate from the larger mica group, whose name derives from the Greek glaucos (meaning “gleaming” or “silvery” and referring to its blue-green color, which can vary from bluish green to olive green). The chemical formula of glauconite is K_0.08R¹_1.33R²_0.67[(Al_0.13Si_3.87O₁₀](OH)_2.

The sands containing glauconite can be found in sedimentary deposits along Mediterranean coasts, on sandstone areas near shore, etc. In Europe, the mineral has been used as an oil paint, especially in Russian icon paintings.

In my Atlas of Sands you can find glauconite in samples from two Dutch regions: Groningen (sample no 0636) and Zeeland (sample no 521). The photo above represents the sample no 436, originating from a sand excavation in France (Maisse, Essone region). However, I am not sure about its content in glauconite, despite the beautiful green color displayed.

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Additional info on glauconite:
See the complete mineral fact sheet at Mindat database.

One of my Tunesian sand samples, 0322 TN-KB, comes from Douz, a central town known als “gate to Sahara”. The sample was collected nearby Chott el Djerid, a large salt lake situated at the beginning of the Sahara desert. Because the lake is not connected with any water sources, the water evaporates under the extreme climate and the lake becomes completely dry in summer.

Beside the touristic attraction, the lake was chosen as filming location for some sequences in the Star Wars movie.

The question “how to store my sand samples?” came to my mind since the early beginning and before taking the final decision I had the chance to read about how the others are solving it. I have seen huge collections made of 40 ml glasses uniformly arranged on the walls (e.g. Frank Winger), I’ve seen the sand stored in test tubes of various lengths and diameters (e.g. Gary Buckham) and also square small mount boxes as most collectors in the Netherlands use (e.g. Loes Modderman).

Well, the decision was actually based on more practical than aesthetic reasons: starting to collect sand in another country, I was facing the problem of transporting everything to my country of residence (about 140 samples, plus leftovers for trading), so it had to be small and also available for purchasing in both countries. I have choosen then small 4ml vials from Sigma Aldrich, a chemicals provider very known in Germany. When filled up to the top, the vials can take about 6-7 ml fine sand and they look really nice when displayed together.

But the storage story has not been finished yet. The sand samples were now stored in vials but the next question is: where to store the vials? I didn’t looked very intensively for a solution but for a few months I put the vials in some IKEA drawers. Temporarily OK but not a long time solution since they offered no visibility. Self building was an option too but difficult to realize without proper tools and also due to very small height required: 1.5 cm.

Finally the solution knocked on the door: Gerstaecker, a renowned provider for all kind of stuff related to painting and art, sells drawer boxes for storing pastel paints which perfectly suited my requirements (in four boxes, each having three drawers, I can store 1000 vials).