Rwanda
Sand Origin
Nyakabanda, Kigali
Random Sand Fact
In Rwanda, in the heart of Africa, scientists have found grains of sand crushed by glaciers.
The quartz grains were found near the equator, in the mountains where the mountain gorillas live. They carry microscopic fractures and marks typical of rock crushed beneath ice. But there are no known glacial deposits here, and quartz is rare in the volcanic bedrock.
The most likely explanation is that the grains were crushed by glaciers in mountains about 150 kilometres to the north, and then blown here.
The grains are more common in older soil layers, possibly a trace of stronger winds during the last ice age.
