How sand appears on the banks of rivers. Sand. Three processes of education. Sand grain shape

It is no secret to many that the north of ancient Africa in the past was a fairly fertile area. With a large number of rivers, both crossing the current territory of the Sahara Desert and flowing into the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic.

Map 1688 Clickable.

Could medieval cartographers have been wrong when they drew this? Or did they copy everything from one more ancient source?
But was this unknown to us North Africa in ancient times, or in times closer to us - it’s not so important yet. Moreover, it is difficult to say when such climate change and accumulation of such amounts of sand occurred. I will dwell on the question of where there is so much sand in the Sahara. And how did it happen, what kind of processes took place, that now this place is a lifeless desert?

Official science says that the Sahara was once the bottom of a huge ancient ocean. Even whale skeletons are found there:

Excavations in Eastern Sahara.
Thirty-seven million years ago, a 15-meter flexible beast with a huge mouth and sharp teeth died and sank to the bottom of the ancient Tethys Ocean.

And the age of the whale was invented and the ancient ocean has a name. If we dwell on this fact in more detail, then I have the following question for the scientific world: in 37 million years, how thick should the soil cover accumulate over the skeleton? Officially, the average soil growth rate is 1-2 mm per year. It turns out that in 37 million years the skeleton must be at a depth of at least 37 km! Even allowing for various erosions, erosion and swelling of rocks, uplifts earth's crust- with such an age, it is impossible to find skeletons on the surface.
In Egypt there is even the Valley of the Whales, which is included by UNESCO in the list of sites with World Heritage status:

Wadi al-Hitan: Valley of the Whale in Egypt. They write that even the stomach contents of some samples were preserved. This means that not everyone is in a skeletal state, but in a mummified or petrified state. Of course, they won't show this to us.

Remains of other animals found in Wadi al-Hitan - sharks, crocodiles, sawfish, turtles and rays

So how could whale skeletons end up on the desert surface? Following this path, the skeletons of dinosaurs are not completely ancient at (at least) 65 million years. Their skeletons are also found on the surface of other deserts, in the Gobi, Atacama (Chile), for example.

Many readers probably already guess about my answer. The whale (or its remains) was brought here by a flood, water from the ocean. Using the source link, you can look at the photo (it’s small, I didn’t post it) of a shell rock, right there in the desert.

Below I want to show some photos of space images from Google Earth:

The territory of the Sahara is not entirely covered with sand. But we are presented with an image of this desert: continuous sands, dunes with rare rocky massifs.

For example, the following plateaus with a rocky desert landscape are often found:

Libya. Link

From above, these places appear to be like this spot-hill, surrounded by sands:

And somewhere there are endless sands and dunes:

But where did it come from? larger territory Sugar so much sand? In addition to the official version of “the bottom of the Tethys ocean,” there are fantastic ones, like V. Kondratov’s version in his films: The Fabric of the Universe. The Mine and the Fabric of the Universe. In the footsteps of the creators

In his opinion, all this sand is dumps from the processing of underwater ores by giant alien mechanisms and the dumping of soil from their aircraft. I will not defend or refute this version, but will put forward my own, within the framework of one of the topics of this blog - the flood and its manifestations.

First, let's look at some landscapes of the Sahara that few people know about:

Egyptian desert

Do you think it's somewhere in North America? You're wrong, this is the Sahara, landscapes in Mali. 21° 59′ 1.68″ N 5° 0′ 35.15″ W

This is Chad. 16° 52′ 24.00″ N 21° 35′ 31.00″ E

There are a lot of such remains

Mali. Link

These rock masses are composed of sedimentary rocks. Their tops are flat

This is what this place looks like from above:

These are remnants close to the surface. It can be seen that these are remnants, islands from ancient surface. What happened to the rest of the territory? And the rest of the soil was carried away by the flood when the wave passed through the continent. All the washed away soil is the sands of the Sahara. Soil, rocks, washed by water erosion of the flow of grains of sand to grains of sand.

In this place there are such traces of erosion. But they are parallel, as if washed by streams of water. Maybe this is true?

And here, too, there are the same “furrows” going to the northeast (or southwest). Link

Of course, a possible version of their formation is the deposition of erosion products along the wind rose.

But upon closer inspection, it is clear that these grooves in the rock could only be made by water erosion:

Traces of erosion on a rocky hill

This is my conclusion about the origin of the sands of the Sahara Desert.
But in the process of creating this material, another conclusion emerged. It is possible that mud and mudflow masses emerged from the depths during one event. But more about that next time...

The formation of sand in the kidneys is an important sign of the development of urolithiasis. Many people faced with the disease wonder: where does sand in the kidneys come from?

It consists of tiny particles consisting of calcium salts, oxalic or uric acid. Most often its composition is mixed. Considering the causes of sand in the kidneys, it should be noted that its crystallization occurs due to water-salt imbalance. This process is accompanied by a change chemical composition blood.

The clinical symptoms of renal sand are not clearly expressed, pain manifests itself at the stage of stone formation.

At-risk groups

First of all, people who do not pay attention are at risk of sand appearing in their kidneys. physical activity and correct diet. Men and women who always have the same type of food on their table are more likely than others to experience unpleasant symptoms of the presence of insoluble compounds in the kidneys.

Poor nutrition leads to an imbalance of metabolism in the body, which further contributes to the occurrence of urolithiasis. Uncontrolled consumption of protein, as well as spicy and salty foods, also leads to this.

There are diseases that can stimulate the formation of kidney stones and sand. Such pathologies include processes that can change the anatomical structure of the urinary canals.

The appearance of urolithiasis is also associated with climatic conditions where people live. High temperatures air contribute to excessive sweating, which leads to excessive salt deposition. In Russia the disease was received greatest distribution in warm and southern regions.

A hot climate and drinking plenty of water supersaturated with salts increase the chance of the disease. The composition of the liquid is of great importance.

Hard water with a high content of calcium salts provokes the crystallization of salts and kidney stones

Risk factors

Among the factors contributing to the formation of kidney stones and sand are:

hereditary predisposition;
lack of a balanced menu;
insufficient consumption of clean fluids;
being male;
excess body weight;
middle age (over 40 years old).

Can children get sick?

The formation of kidney sand can begin not only in adulthood, but also in children entering adolescence. Along with hereditary predisposition, which contributes to the appearance of sand, there is an incorrectly selected daily menu. The abundance of products that do not have beneficial qualities often leads to unpleasant symptoms urolithiasis in children.

Helping to balance the diet and increasing the child's physical activity is the best thing parents can do in this situation. It is necessary to adjust the menu in favor of foods rich in vitamins of all groups.

The time a child spends in front of a computer monitor is reduced to a minimum. The daily routine should include a long stay in the fresh air. Awareness of the reasons that influenced the development of the disease, and in time Taken measures will help quickly overcome the emerging disease.

The effect of pregnancy on sand formation

During pregnancy, a woman's body undergoes a metabolic change, which often results in the formation of insoluble compounds in the kidneys. During the period of bearing a child, it is not customary to diagnose urolithiasis, so a specialist can prescribe a study only in rare cases.

During pregnancy, women use a large number of ascorbic acid. This organic compound often leads to the formation of sand and the formation of kidney stones. Renal colic is one of the reasons that can provoke premature birth. That is why it is necessary to carefully monitor the foods consumed during pregnancy.

Reasons for formation

There are many reasons why sand appears in the kidneys. Each person’s body is individual, so the reasons for the formation of insoluble compounds can vary significantly.

Among them are:

family predisposition;
sedentary lifestyle;
vascular pathologies;
eating excessive amounts of salty, spicy fatty foods;
metabolic imbalance in the body;
chronic diseases of the stomach and intestines;
addiction to alcoholic beverages;
anatomical pathologies of the urinary tract and organs;
diseases accompanied by uncontrolled release of uric acid. For example, obesity and gout.

The reasons for the appearance of sand include both a lack of calcium and its excess content. You should not uncontrollably use medicinal supplements designed to restore the proper level of calcium in the body. The reasons may lead to certain consequences.

Crystallization of sand in the kidneys and further formation of stones often lead to inflammatory process in the urinary system

Water intake and kidney sand

It happens that a person is not associated with any of the listed reasons, but urolithiasis is still diagnosed. In this case, when considering why insoluble compounds are formed, it is necessary to focus the patient’s attention on the quality of the liquid he consumes.

Not every organism copes with their elimination on its own, and often excess elements crystallize, forming sand.

Kidney sand can go if drinking water overly saturated with salts and calcium

Does nutrition affect

Drinking black coffee and chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa content contributes to unwanted deposition of uric acid salts. A person who prefers green leafy vegetables, dairy products and fruits rich in ascorbic acid will also have excessive salt content.

Strong drinks negatively affect the development of urolithiasis. Alcohol breakdown products end up in excretory system and kidneys through the blood. Acting as a kind of filter, the kidneys cleanse this receipt, however, uric acid forms a salt, leading to the formation of insoluble compounds.

Disease prevention

It is necessary to give preference to quality nutrition and change a “sedentary” lifestyle to an active one.

Do not overcool the body and allow your feet to get wet. The condition of the kidneys and legs must be monitored. Freezing of the extremities can lead to undesirable consequences for the entire body.

You should pay attention to the amount of calcium consumed. Limit fatty foods. Sweet and flour products are rich in carbohydrates, so overeating them is also undesirable. It is necessary to exclude foods that provoke salt deposition from the daily menu, and increase the amount of liquid you drink per day to 2 liters. Try to eat animal foods in the morning or afternoon.

It is ideal if there is time in your daily routine for walking in the fresh air. This guarantees improved health and well-being.

Prevention of sand crystallization in the kidneys - a section worth paying attention to Special attention. Sand can form into stones, which clog urine passages and damage the mucous membrane.

Knowledge of the mechanism of sand formation in the kidneys helps to understand why this pathological condition occurs. You should not try to treat the disease yourself. The best solution is a consultation with a doctor who will prescribe medications and help you choose the right diet.

Map 1688 Clickable.

Could medieval cartographers have been wrong when they drew this? Or did they copy everything from one more ancient source?
But whether this unknown North Africa existed in ancient times, or in times closer to us, is not so important for now. Moreover, it is difficult to say when such climate change and accumulation of such amounts of sand occurred. I will dwell on the question of where there is so much sand in the Sahara. And how did it happen, what kind of processes took place, that now this place is a lifeless desert?

Official science says that the Sahara was once the bottom of a huge ancient ocean. Even whale skeletons are found there:

Excavations in Eastern Sahara.
Thirty-seven million years ago, a 15-meter flexible beast with a huge mouth and sharp teeth died and sank to the bottom of the ancient Tethys Ocean.

And the age of the whale was invented and the ancient ocean has a name. If we dwell on this fact in more detail, then I have the following question for the scientific world: in 37 million years, how thick should the soil cover accumulate over the skeleton? Officially, the average soil growth rate is 1-2 mm per year. It turns out that in 37 million years the skeleton must be at a depth of at least 37 km! Even allowing for various erosions, erosion and swelling of rocks, uplifting of the earth's crust - with such an age it is impossible to find skeletons on the surface.
In Egypt there is even the Valley of the Whales, which is included by UNESCO in the list of sites with World Heritage status:

The remains of other animals found in Wadi al-Hitan - sharks, crocodiles, sawfish, turtles and stingrays

Below I want to show some photos of space images from Google Earth:

The territory of the Sahara is not entirely covered with sand. But we are presented with an image of this desert: continuous sands, dunes with rare rocky massifs.

For example, the following plateaus with a rocky desert landscape are often found:

Libya. Link

From above, these places appear to be like this spot-hill, surrounded by sands:

And somewhere there are endless sands and dunes:

But where did so much sand come from across most of the Sahara? In addition to the official version of “the bottom of the Tethys ocean”, there are fantastic ones, like V. Kondratov’s version in his films: Fabric of the Universe. Mine And

First, let's look at some landscapes of the Sahara that few people know about:

Egyptian desert

Do you think it's somewhere in North America? You're wrong, this is the Sahara, landscapes in Mali. 21° 59" 1.68" N 5° 0" 35.15" W

This is Chad. 16° 52" 24.00" N 21° 35" 31.00" E

There are a lot of such remains

Mali. Link

These rock masses are composed of sedimentary rocks. Their tops are flat

This is what this place looks like from above:

These are remnants close to the surface. It can be seen that these are remnants, islands from an ancient surface. What happened to the rest of the territory? And the rest of the soil was carried away by the flood when the wave passed through the continent. All the washed away soil is the sands of the Sahara. Soil, rocks, washed by water erosion of the flow of grains of sand to grains of sand.

IN this place There are these traces of erosion. But they are parallel, as if washed by streams of water. Maybe this is true?

And here, too, there are the same “furrows” going to the northeast (or southwest). Link

Of course, a possible version of their formation is the deposition of erosion products along the wind rose.

But upon closer inspection, it is clear that these grooves in the rock could only be made by water erosion:

Traces of erosion on a rocky hill

Sand is a material that consists of loose stone grains with a grain diameter ranging from 1/16 mm to 2 mm. If the diameter is more than 2 mm, it is classified as gravel, and if less than 1/16, then as clay or silt. Sand is mainly created by destruction rocks, which over time accumulate together to form grains of sand.

Sand weathering process

The most common method of sand formation is weathering. This is the process of transforming rocks under the influence of factors such as water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, temperature fluctuations in winter and summer period. Most often, granite is destroyed in this way. The composition of granite is quartz crystals, feldspar, and various minerals. Feldspar, when in contact with water, disintegrates faster than quartz, which allows granite to crumble into fragments.

Sand denudation process

As rocks collapse, they move from higher elevations downward under the influence of wind, water, and gravity. This process is called denudation.

Under the influence of the processes of weathering, denudation and accumulation of minerals over a long period of time, one can observe the leveling of the land topography.

Sand fragmentation process

Fragmentation is the process of crushing something into many small fragments, in our example it is granite. When the crushing process occurs quickly, the granite is destroyed even before the feldspar is destroyed. Thus, the resulting sand is dominated by feldspar. If the crushing process occurs slowly, then the content of feldspar in the sand decreases accordingly. The process of rock fragmentation is influenced by the flow of water, which enhances fragmentation. As a result, we have sands with low feldspar content on steep slopes.

Sand grain shape

The shape of the sand grains starts out angular and becomes more rounded as they are polished by abrasion during transport by wind or water. Quartz sand grains are the most resistant to wear. Even a long stay near the water, where it washes it, is not enough to thoroughly roll the angular quartz grain. Recycling time is on the order of 200 million years, so a quartz grain that first eroded from granite 2.4 billion years ago may have gone through 10 to 12 cycles of burial and re-erosion to reach its current state. Thus, the degree of roundness of an individual quartz grain is an indirect indicator of its antiquity. Feldspar grains can also be rounded, but not as well, so sand that has been moved several times is mostly quartz.

The influence of the ocean and wind on the process of sand formation

Sand can be formed not only by weathering, but also by explosive volcanism, as well as as a result of the impact of waves on coastal rocks. As a result of the influence of the ocean, the sharp corners of the rocks are polished and over time they become crushed. This way we get what is familiar to us sea sand. During a storm in the cold season, water that gets into the cracks of the rocks becomes ice, which leads to splitting. Thus, over time, sand is also obtained. Nothing would have happened without the intervention of the wind. The wind wears grains of sand on the rocks and scatters them.

Application area of sand

Sand surrounds us everywhere. It is most used in construction. By combining it with water and cement we get a concrete solution. Sand is added to dry building mixtures in the manufacture of artificial stone and tiles. Sand has even found use in alternative medicine for the prevention of radiculitis and problems with the musculoskeletal system. No children's playground is complete without a sandbox. Sand is also widely used for making glass; backfilling into sandblasting machines to clean surfaces from rust, various types corrosion; for filling football fields; as soil for an aquarium; .

Details about the origin of quartz sand can be emphasized from the article: Big choice Fractionated quartz sand can be found on our website.