Sally’s Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The west coast of Newfoundland with its 550-million-year-old volcanic and sedimentary rock is home to some of the oldest rocks in the world.
Sally’s Cove’s coast on the west coast of Newfoundland has rock beaches with stone of varying sizes and color.
See where this sand was collected.
Mixture of primarily terrigenous sand grains. The elongated sand grain with linear grooves near the center is a biogenic fragment from a sea urchin spine. The reddish orange sand grains may be grains of peridotite following exposure to the atmosphere. Black inclusions in the orange sand grains are likely horneblende.
White & tan and white & pink shell fragments with linear markings are located to the upper right of center. Clear quartz and a colorful mixture of non-biogenic orange, brown and green-black grains are abundant. The darkest black grains are basalt.
Mixture of colorful terrigenous and biogenic sand grains. A smoothly rounded shell fragment with pink linear markings is just to the right of center and light purple shell fragment is present near the upper right corner. Other grains include silica, feldspar, and some red-orange grains are possibly oxidized ultamafic rock grains. The greenish color of some sand grains may be traces of olivine.
A large triangular white shell fragment with smooth edges is present at the bottom center. The remaining colorful smaller grains reflect a spectrum geological sand grains.
Raleigh, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The dark sands of Raleigh at the northern tip of Newfoundland.
Raleigh historic village was established to preserve its fishing history.
This low magnification view shows the spectrum of volcanic sand grains including clear and opaque quartz, off white and tan feldspar and a variety of black and gray-black sand grains.
In addition to clear and opaque quartz and off-white and yellowish feldspar, there are small dark black basalt grains as well as mottled gray and black volcanic grains. Two translucent red quartz grains, a mottled tan and black grain, and a tan and white sand grain contribute to this geological sample. The sand grains are moderately smooth and vary in size.
In addition to quartz and feldspar sand grains, some gray and tan geological grains contain black inclusions that may be horneblende.
This spectrum of sand grains includes quartz, feldspar and a spectrum of light and dark igneous grains.
Green Gardens, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Newfoundland has some of the oldest rocks in the world.
The unique landscape of Green Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
This sand is composed of dark volcanic grains of basalt along with clear quartz and pale tan feldspar along with greenish grains that may be peridotite.
This sand sample consists primarily of dark basalt, cloudy gray feldspar grains and greenish grains that may be peridotite. There is a large white and brown marine shell grain in the center and a pure white marine shell grain at the bottom center in this view.
Different sized sand grains in this sample include black basalt and different colors of feldspar. A small clear quartz grain just right of center is sitting on a feldspar grain that has black inclusions.
This sand sample includes a mixture of black, tan, brown and greenish volcanic. grains. Some off-white grains that are partially translucent are probably quartz.