
SplendidSands
Exploring the Science and Beauty of Sand
Industrial Heritage Sand

Champion Stamp Mill Ruins, Freda, MI
Leo Kenney
Remnants of industry and civilizations are often found as grains in sands. Coal chunks from power plants, paint chips from road paint, brick fragments from old chimneys, rusted steel shot from sandblasting sites, and colorful glass fragments. Other sands contain the waste material from mines or slag from ore smelting operations. Magnification reveals these grains.

Slag from historic cobalt, lead, zinc, copper and iron mining Bode River, Sachsen Anhalt, Germany

Polished slag from closed iron mine Lac Jeannine mine, Gagnon, Quebec, Canada

Marble quarry waste Marble Beach, Thassos Island, Greece

Beach polished asbestos tailings Plage D'albo, Corsica, France

Coal and slag from power plant Lake Superior Ashland, Wisconsin

White, yellow paint, reflective beads from road runoff. Acushnet River, Mattapoisett, Massachusetts

Glass fragments from historic ocean dumping of city waste. Ele'ele, Kauai, Hawaii

Slag, coal, and brick remnants from historic powder mill. Brandywine River, Eagle Rollings Mills, Wilmington, Delaware

Stamp mill copper mine waste dumped in Lake Superior North Canal Township Park, Houghton, Michigan

Glass fragments from glass production Zejdlik Brook, Ustecky, Czech Republic

Sand blasting shot, charcoal, and slag dredged from River. 35W Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Copper smelter slag on Houghton Canal Houghton, Michigan

Slag from historic pig iron furnace Sloss Furnaces Natl. Hist. Landmark, Birmingham, AL

Sand encrusted black oil blob from Black Sea drill platform.

Waste from world's oldest copper mines.

Industrial slag debris.