sand - dune sand - orange-pink frosted sand derived from the Navajo Sandstone - 250 ml display bottle with ground glass stopper

This interesting sand was derived from the Navajo Sandstone which makes up the cross-bedded cliffs at Zion National Park in Utah and which is widely distributed in southern Utah outside of the park. The sand grains are entirely frosted quartz.

Transported from the Appalachians by a continent-spanning river system, the Navajo was deposited during the Jurassic as sand in a vast coastal and inland dune field, which subsequently became lithified into a sandstone. Near Hurricane, Utah this sandstone is 2,400 feet thick. The frosted quartz grains are characteristic of the Navajo Sandstone - the quartz grains essentially sandblasted each other as they were transported by the wind and deposited in dunes. 

Near Mt. Carmel Junction, Utah, the Coral Pink Sand Dunes are entirely composed of sand derived from the Navajo Sandstone. It's an interesting example of recycling, where a Jurassic dune field becomes lithified to become the Navajo Sandstone, then roughly 160 million years later weathers to become sand again, which locally forms dunes. 

The Coral Pink Dunes form where wind funnels between the Moquith and Moccasin Mountains - dunes require a source of sand and a steady wind from the same direction. 

The grains of this sand are uniform sized frosted quartz with a thin iron oxide coating. Your students can compare this sand with the source material. We have student and hand specimens of the Navajo Sandstone in stock. 

These bottles are 250 ml, 5" high, with a ground glass stopper, and make a good display. Note that these have been affected by covid. No germs, but bottles from our regular supplier look like they were made by someone working remotely, grinding the stoppers by hand. Formerly the neck of the bottle and the stopper were machine ground and fit perfectly. Now the fit is loose, so we ship these with a cork, but supply the "rustic" glass stopper along with the cork until we run out of "covid specials" and can get machine-ground bottles again.

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