sand - large-grained quartz dune sand from Monastery Beach, Carmel Bay, California in a 250 ml display bottle with ground glass stopper The oldest radiolarian fossils in

The oldest radiolarian fossils in the cherts lived about 200 million years ago

Which is the most likely source of this sand

but it can be subtle

across the continent from the Appalachians

a student can see the frosted surface

sand - large-grained quartz dune sand from Monastery Beach, Carmel Bay, California in a 250 ml display bottle with ground glass stopper The oldest radiolarian fossils inThis sand is interesting because of the large size of its quartz grains for a dune sand. Monastery Beach is fed sand immediately by San Jose Creek and by the Carmel River farther north. The longshore current that moves sand from north to south along Californias coast contributes to this beach, but the size and irregular shapes of these grains tells us that the primary source must be a local and not particularly long drainage, most likely San Jose