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SEM/EDS of Hawaiian Beach Sands

We didn't have a lot of time to look at the Hawaiian beach sand samples, so when I returned to Canada, I took a closer look at them. Below are links to pages for each beach, which contain a macro photo of each of the sands, and selected grains from each sample mounted on specimen support stubs for SEM/EDS. Click on each grain in the stub images to see an SEM image of the grain (with measurements) and the EDS spectra from a 1000X integrated area scan (30 second duration). Note that the grains were coated with gold after the macro photos were taken, so gold is present in all EDS spectra. Some questions you might think about when looking at these specimens include:

  • Based on measurements from the selected grains, is there a difference in grain size on the three beaches?
  • Are the selected grains representative of the sand samples? Why or why not?
  • Is grain color a good indication of elemental composition?
  • We discussed some reasons why these sands may be different. Can you think of others?

Waikiki

Hanauma

Waimanalo

Halle 2004 Main Page

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