As I was cleaning out my room I came across an old box from Ward's Scientific labeled "Sand Activity Kit." It unfortunately had gotten pushed way to the back of a cabinet, and was buried under assorted "valuable" specimens. The box was pristine! When I opened it there were seven numbered sand samples and four samples with names that apparently all came from the same sand spit. When I googled the names, two of the four came up as being in Olympia, Washington, so I assume the other two are from there also. The authors of the lesson are also from Washington state. Shown above the sample images is their reflectance spectrum. Shown below are the four samples from the spit. Under each image is a high resolution thumbnail of the image. Under them are the seven numbered samples. I've included the written description from the instruction manual of each sample. Ward's no longer sells #36-0501. If I can get permission, I'll post the manual. If I can't, the samples make a great lesson on their own. Enjoy!
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"Sample #1 is glacial outwash material from the northeast United States. It includes quartz, mica, iron minerals, [and] feldspar. Grains are subrounded, moderately sorted, and 0.25 - 2 mm in size."
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"Sample #2 is continental volcanic material. It is composed of andesite, magnetite, [and] feldspar. Grains are subangular to angular, well sorted, and 0.25mm - 1 mm."
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"Sample #3 is continental - coastal plain-deltaic sand. It has quartz and black iron minerals. Grains are well rounded, well sorted, and 0.25 to 0.5 mm in size."
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"Sample 4 [is] continental sub-tropical to tropical coast. It is calcite, quartz, rock fragments, [and] organics. Grains are angular to subrounded, poorly sorted, and 0.25mm - 5 mm in size."
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"Sample #5 is continental sandstone. It includes quartz, magnetite, feldspar, [and] rock fragments. Grains are subangular to subrounded, moderately sorted, and 0.25 - 1 mm in size."
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"Sample #6 is [from] northwest United States - stream runoff from glaciated mountains and bluffs of glacial outwash. Grains are quartz, feldspar, igneous and metamorphic volcanic rock fragments. Grains are angular to semiangular, moderately sorted, and 0.25 - 1 mm in size.
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"Sample #7 is mountainous (metamorphic). It includes mica, quartz, feldspar, [and] iron ore minerals. Grains are very angular to subangular, poorly sorted, and 0.25 - 2 mm in size."
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