Sunday sand: Brazilian gems

Sometimes, a sand just strikes me as beautiful in its own right – yes, of course it has geological stories to tell, but  (although perhaps I shouldn’t admit this) they seem somehow secondary. And that’s the case with these Brazilian gems.

I was fortunate, when I was writing the book, to make contact with Loes Modderman, a Dutch enthusiast for many things, among them sand. I came across a series of stunning images on her website and Loes went out of her way to help me use one of them in the book. Not only was my use of her photo entirely free, but this was the start of an ongoing correspondence; furthermore, she kick-started my collection of sands by sending me a substantial sampling from her vast collection. And this sand was one of them. It’s from a beach at Camburi on the coast of Brazil, north of Rio; it’s a tourist resort, set in the midst of highly urbanised area on the estuary of several rivers that drain the old interior of the continent. And these grains of quartz sand areold, torn from the Pre-Cambrian granites and other rocks that form the ancient core of South America. They are survivors – and, as such, seem full of character.

These are the kind of images that are stunning in their own right; but I can’t help playing around with Photoshop to see what happens… SIGNATURE

Comments

Jules (2010-10-17):

Beautiful image Michael…Love those rich blue colors that look like they are inside or the inner backside the grains. I can visualize microscopic amobeas or organelles or stellar and nebular gas formations.
Knowing that ubiquitous, so-called mundane grains of sand you hold in your hand could be a part of incomprehensibly ancient rocks formed billions of years ago staggers the imagination.

Walter (2010-10-17):

Cool!

playbook (2010-10-26):

This is so beautiful, truely the art of mother nature!

only the brave playbook

Richard Bready (2011-04-29):

The Photoshopped version looks like a polarized-light microphoto, and makes me wonder whether image enhancement of this sort might be used as a research tool. You’ve probably seen notes on how conversion of data to visible or audible form helps scientists discern pattern that the primitive brain picks up faster than the mathematical brain or even the computer. Whether or not, it’s gorgeous.

Sandglass (2011-04-30):

My goodness, Richard - you HAVE been excavating the archives!
Your last point on conversion of one form of data to another that stimulates a different sense is indeed fascinating - have you listened to the “sounds” of the Japanese earthquake that are available on the web?

Richard Bready (2011-04-30):

I missed a lot and am much enjoying reading backward to where I fell out. The speeding up of the earthquake vibrations to audible range reminds me of the recordings that raise whale call frequencies so that they sound like bird songs. And then there’s Dr. Terenzi, the “cross between Carl Sagan and Madonna”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiorella_Terenzi

Sandglass (2011-05-01):

Good grief - a “cross between Carl Sagan and Madonna”??!!
My mind boggled - I had not heard of her, so followed up your link and then to her website (http://www.fiorella.com/). I was relieved to find that Sagan was the intellectual part of the analogy, Madonna the appearance. What is it about the Italians? All quite extraordinary.

Richard Bready (2011-05-22):

“But what if it had MY looks, and YOUR brains?” Shaw wrote to the woman who proposed she have his baby.

Originally published at: https://throughthesandglass.typepad.com/through_the_sandglass/2010/10/sunday-sand-brazilian-gems.html