Antarctica
Sand Origin
Collected by a geologist in Antarctica in the 1980s. These grains are not included in AKIN. Today, geological material should not be removed from Antarctica as a souvenir.
Random Sand Fact
Antarctica is the world’s largest desert. Yet almost all of it is covered in ice.
Only a tiny fraction, less than 0.5% of the continent’s surface is free from snow and ice. In those small exposed areas there are mountains, rock, gravel – and, in some places, sand.
OUAW’s Antarctic sand comes from one of these rare ice-free areas, collected by a geologist in the 1980s.
The grains remain in the collection but are not mixed with the world’s sands in AKIN. Perhaps one of them will become a GRAINS piece one day.
