Trading

Most sand samples in my collection are not collected by me. I owe great thanks to fellow sand collectors and friends who live far away or collect sand during their vacations. Sand collectors have tradelists which list the extra samples that can be traded or shared with others.

This page shows sand samples that I am willing to share with you. If you find it interesting, contact me and we may make a trade or even become friends. I offer most of my sand samples in 15 ml and 30 ml quantity. Please note that some of my samples are available in 15 ml quantity only. I keep my samples in 15 ml glass vials and therefore need no more than 15 ml per sample.

I have no strict trading rules like “my home country for yours”. As long as you have samples in your tradelist that interest me, you are free to choose the similar amount of whatever you like from my list. If you want to make a trade with me, I would appreciate correct geographical coordinates or at least as exact and unambiguous location details as possible. Using GPS is the best method for taking coordinates but it can successfully be done later with the help of Google Maps. All it takes is your ability to locate the correct collecting place on the map.

I generally wish to keep my sand parcels below 1 kg (or 500 grams) weight. It is approximately 18 (9) sand samples, each 30 ml.

All of my trade samples are listed in the table shown below. You also have an opportunity to download MS Excel version of my tradelist.

Tradelist

ID	Country	Location	Description	Picture
1	Estonia	Tabina, Võrumaa	Very weakly cemented quartz arenite. It is purest sand (highest silica content) in Estonia and is used to make glass. Quartz crystals are semi-transparent, their surface is mostly white. Composition: Quartz content is about 97%. Other minerals are mainly K-feldspar and muscovite. Devonian (Gauja regional stage) medium-grained sandstone from paleodelta.
2	Estonia	Partsi, Põlvamaa	Micaceous orange quartz rich and very weakly cemented medium-grained sandstone. Composition: Quartz, K-feldspar, muscovite. Quartz and feldspar grains are partially covered by a very fine hematite pigment. Devonian (Burtnieki regional stage) sandstone from paleodelta.
3	Estonia	Leetse pank, Harjumaa	Green glauconitic sandstone. Sand is greenish gray. Similar sandstones are frequently called greenbeds. Composition: glauconite and quartz. Ordovician marine sandstone (Leetse formation), shallow epicontinental sea. Cliff outcrop.
5	Estonia	Pakri pank, Harjumaa	Brown sandstone composed of quartz and brownish carbonate cement. Ordovician marine sandstone, shallow epicontinental sea. Cliff outcrop.
6	Estonia	Ristna, Harjumaa	Beach sand. Mixture of siliciclastic and carbonate grains. Much of Estonian bedrock is made of carbonate rocks (limestone, dolostone). In current location, bank of limestone with bentonite layer are present on the coastline. Composition: Quartz, K-feldspar, lithic carbonate fragments, and some carbonate fossils.
7	Estonia	Kloogaranna, Harjumaa	Poorly sorted light-colored beach sand from sandy bay. Composition: quartz, K-feldspar, hornblende, biotite. I’ve seen few garnet and even one small epidote grain.
9	Estonia	Pakri pank, Harjumaa	Yellowish white Cambrian siltstone composed of quartz. Cambrian marine siltstone. Cliff outcrop.
10	Estonia	Tartu, Tartumaa	Red sandstone. Somewhat similar to Partsi sandstone (00002) but sand grains are finer and red color is more pronounced. Composition: quartz, K-feldspar, muscovite, hematite pigment on quartz and feldspar grains. Devonian (Aruküla regional stage) sandstone from paleodelta. Outcrop.
58	Estonia	Pirita Beach, Tallinn	Quartz, K-feldspar, hornblende, epidote, garnet.
59	Estonia	Pakri peninsula, foot of the Baltic klint.	Darker than most Estonian light-colored beach sands. This sand contains some unusual minerals because it is collected at the foot of the Baltic klint and contains some of its weathering products, especially pyrite. This sand is usually underwater, collected during low water. During high water, there is only cliff and shingle visible on the coast, no sand. Composition: quartz, K-feldspar, pyrite, dark minerals.
165	Estonia	Nedsaja, Põlvamaa	Quartz (white), feldspar (yellow), few black hornblende grains. This sand is from 20 meters below ground. Acquired during water well drilling.
742	Israel	Timna Park (oldest copper mine in the world), 25 km North of Eilat, Negev Desert	Quartz and malachite (greenish copper ore).
743	Israel	Red Canyon (15 km NW of Eilat)	Rhyolite (volcanic version of granite) and limestone fragments, quartz.
744	Israel	Yotvata Salt Desert	Mostly quartz and feldspar, it may also contain some halite.
745	Israel	Coral Beach, South of Eilat	Quartz, feldspar, granitic fragments, some biogenic grains. Despite its beach name, this sand is not made of coral. It is mostly mineral sand.
746	Israel	Ovda Valley, 5 km NE of Ovda airport, Negev Desert	Quartz, carbonate grains.
750	Israel	Timna Park (oldest copper mine in the world), 25 km North of Eilat, Negev Desert	Mostly quartz, some feldspar, malachite and heavy minerals.
751	Israel	En Boqeq, Dead Sea (425 meters below sea level)	Mostly halite. Taken few meters from lakeshore (bottom sand of the lake). It is actually salt instead of “normal” sand.
755	New Zealand	Waikato North Head Mine, North Island	Mixture of titanomagnetite and silicate grains.
756	Australia	Mount Conner, Northern Territory	Mostly quartz grains with hematitic pigment. Some heavy minerals including hematite.
758	Australia	Luritja Road. Road to Kings Canyon, Northern Territory	Mostly quartz grains with hematitic pigment.
760	Australia	Almonta Beach, Coffin Bay, South Australia	Versatile biogenic grains, including forams.
761	Australia	Port Elliot, South Australia	Quartz and biogenic fragments.
815	India	Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu	Quartz, feldspar, some biogenic fragments and heavy minerals. 15 ml
816	Sri Lanka	Negombo	Quartz, some biogenic grains and heavy minerals. 15 ml
817	India	Chowpatty Beach, Mumbai	Versatile biogenic grains and mostly dark-colored minerals. 15 ml
818	India	Cheriazheekal, Kerala	Quartz, heavy minerals (most could be ilmenite), garnet, biogenic grains. 15 ml
820	Luxembourg	Rocks near Berdorf	Quartz and sandstone fragments. 15 ml
821	Latvia	Saulkrasti	Quartz, feldspar, heavy minerals.

The table below lists samples that have been part of my tradelist in the past. I do not have them anymore in sufficient quantity for trading but I still keep them here for those who have received them from me and wish to get some information regarding to their location, composition etc.

Former trade samples

ID	Country	Location	Description	Picture
8	Estonia	Pakri peninsula, North of Paldiski, Harju maakond.	Dark pyritic sandstone (pyrite and quartz are the main components) which makes rather thin (ca 15 cm) but strong layer in the lower part of the sedimentary sequence of the Baltic klint. Baltic klint is long (over 1000 km) escarpment in Northern Europe from Öland (Swedish island in the Baltic Sea) to Ladoga (Europes largest lake in NW Russia). It is best exposed in Estonia and contains number of interesting sedimentary rocks from Cambrian and Ordovician including several sandstones. Ordovician (Pakerort regional stage) marine sandstone, shallow epicontinental sea. Pyrite is diagenetic (formed during lithification). Cliff outcrop.
11	Estonia	Kodavere, Jõgevamaa, shore of Lake Peipus.	Quartz, feldspar, few heavy minerals.
55	USA	Kapaa quarry, Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii	Basaltic coarse-grained rock fragments covered by a blue very fine-grained powder, probably serpentine.
259	USA	Makakilo quarry, Oahu, Hawaii	Partially weathered basalt fragments, covered by fine-grained weathered reddish basalt fragments.
260	USA	Diamond Head Beach (at lighthouse), Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii	Olivine, biogenic grains, rock fragments. Source of olivine is Diamond Head tuff cone which is situated right next to the beach.
261	USA	Piikoi street at foot of Punchbowl Crater, 5 meters below city street, Honolulu, Hawaii	Basaltic fragments, semi-transparent white crystals, probably calcite. Volcanic rocks of Punchbowl Crater tuff cone.