Sand & Dunes
Dunes Protect Land & the Watershed
Sand dunes protect coastlines and watersheds and create buffers that insulate land from high winds, storm damage, and flooding. Grasses, vegetation, trees, shrubs, and fences help to hold the sand in place, reducing erosion of dunes. They are habitat for endangered species and there is an incredible range of biodiversity from flora and fauna to birds and aquatic life. For example, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore protects 30% of plant species that are listed as rare, threatened, endangered, and special concern. (Source: NPS Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore)
Use & Demand for Silica Sand
A Non-Renewable Natural Resource
Along with gravel and charcoal, silica sand is used for filtering drinking water. Silica sand is also used in the processes of making glass, metal, ceramics, paint, fracking proppant (10,000 tons of sand per well), cement, construction materials, smartphones, and computers. (Source: USGS Silica Statistics and Information)
Statistics on sand are often grouped with gravel and other industrial material, so global information on types of sand and their availability is not straightforward or readily findable. Silica sand is a finite natural resource and black markets that harvest silica sand illegally are rapidly increasing globally.
Basics
Silica sand is also called silica, quartz sand, or industrial sand. High purity silica sand has a uniform shape and higher quartz content (99.95% SiO2). This higher quality sand and carries a premium price tag, and is the primary sand used for industry and manufacturing (including glass). It can be synthetically produced, but is considered cost-prohibitive.
Locations & Communities
Silica sand is found at the bottom of river beds, along river corridors and lakeshores, at inland and coastal dunes, and Paleozoic-aged sandstones found beneath geological formations. In the Midwestern United States, mining for this type of sand is most recurrent around The Great Lakes and along the Mississippi River.
Notably, communities and organizations have fought or are currently fighting silica mining near Starved Rock State Park (IL) (with public pressure to change laws for environmental permits), Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (IN), the scenic drive and sandstone bluffs along the Great Mississippi River Road around Lake Pepin (WI), and inland dunes, coastal sand strips, and coastal dunes, particularly along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan* (MI). (*From 2000, see Figure 3 map of industrial sand producers on page 6.)
The rapid depletion and demand cycle for silica sand does not belong to the Midwest alone, around the world, sand mafias are emerging.
Dunes Protection Organizations
Indiana Dunes National Park & Lakeshore
Save the Dunes
Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance
The Great Dunes & Dark Sky
