These are my picks for the top ten samples of 2014. As always, there is nothing scientific about this. Some samples were selected because of the content of the sand. Others were picked for their historical significance, location, or to credit the folks who collected the samples.

The first sample  from Buck Creek in Chunk Gal Mountain  from North Carolina had so much going for it that it was a natural choice. It was the sample used for the month of October, 2014 in the "Sand 2014: A Closeup Look at he World Around Us" calendar, created by one of my contributors. This person has given me so many great samples, and given me so many helpful hints on how to photograph samples.  In addition to all of that, it's a great sample. "Among these angular grains are almandine garnets, an iron-alumina garnet that is magnetic. Other pink grains are likely ruby zoisite . . ." (from the calendar). Thank you Leo!

Muizenberg, Beach, Cape Town, South Africa is my second selection for a very unique reason. It was one of the first samples I shot with my full frame camera. It also was one of the first I processed from stacked images. This is actually a combination of six images to give me a greater depth of field in my images. I was amazed by what I saw. Hopefully, as the year progresses, my photography will improve.

Everything is different with my third selection, Vacia Talega Beach, Ilsa Culebra, Puerto Rico. You might notice that there is no scale on this image. That's because it's a "Zero Magnification" image. It was shot with a macro lens at 1:1. For those of you needing a scale, the shell is about 1.5 cm across at its widest part.  It also is a stacked image. This image was taken during a snow storm, and it just said "summer" to me!

Speaking of snow storms - my wife and I were coming home after going out to dinner after the third (count them THREE) snow storm of that week. I opened he storm door, and there was a package from Brazil between the doors! A doctoral candidate located in Brazil had sent me 42 samples from there and Uruguay! Brazil was going to be this year's "Oregon." I reached into the package and picked one at random. Chui-Hermenegildo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil became my first sample from the new batch, and became my fourth selection. The sample comes from a source located someplace between the towns of Chui and Hermenegildo.  " . . .  this place is known because of the great accumulation of shell or shell fragments, we call this concheiros." - Rodrigo Guerra . . . Hey Rodrigo, thanks for the great package!

Friends went on a cruise in a small boat to the British Virgin Islands, and brought me back six samples of sand. One of the samples from The Baths in Virgin Gorda, was incredible and became my fifth selection. I couldn't decide what section of the sample to photograph, so I made an animated gif out of a bunch of samples.

The same thing happened with my sixth selection. We went to Florida the week after my wife retired, and a friend of hers took us to Caspersen Beach, in Venice. Now Venice is known for its fossil shark's teeth, so we had to give it a try. We did okay. Enjoy!

I went to the NSTA National Convention in Boston this April, and attended the National Earth Science Teacher Association's Geology Share-a-thon. That is always a fun event. I came home with at least 20 pounds of new sand samples! One of those samples, selection seven, contains Herkimer "Diamonds" from Herkimer, New York. Thank you Peter!

A location in Brazil, Praia da Ferrugem, is the home of selection eight. This sample is spectacular. I could have made dozens of photographs of this sample! There was so much life, so many colors, so many incredible shapes in this sample.

A friend went on a hike across Spain! She did over 200 miles! As a side trip she went to Normandy, and collected samples from most of the D-Day beaches. This made for an historic Selection nine group.

Selection ten is two grains! They were collected by a woman who was taking a photography course with me. She visit Mount Etna in Italy, and during her hike to the top she realized she had forgotten her gloves. She picked up two pieces of still warm lava and put them into her pockets. They worked much better than gloves! She forgot about them until she got home. When she unpacked she discovered that he stones had been reduced to dust. Normally the "life story" of a rock takes millions of years going from magma beneath the surface cooling to it being brought to the surface to it being weathered. All of these steps happened in days for this sample!

101 AMERICAN GEOSITES YOU GOTTA SEE

We added  two Geosites this year. That brings me up to a total of 16 out of the 101. There's still a long way to go!

101 AMERICAN GEOSITES YOU GOTTA SEE!

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