Mildly Interesting

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Some sand can look beautiful under a microscope (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Source: Wired, 2014

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Do you know what the sand from elafonissi beach (Crete) looks like under a microscope? It really does look pinky when you’re there, and I was told it was because of a certain type of seashell that made up the majority of the top sand. I was a kid though, definitely could have been lies.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Never heard of it but sounds nice! Pink sands can happen for a variety of reasons and I'm not sure exactly what is going on in Crete. I collected some pink sand in the Bahamas that I found interesting and long story short, it was manganese stained fossil coral. It sounds like a similar process is happening in Crete with red stained foraminifera tests (tiny shells). Not sure what the red is in the tests in Crete without digging into it as I only did a cursory search but iron oxide and/or manganese aren't horrible guesses.

Looks like a cool spot!