John McPhee had a great New Yorker article (which I think was also in the collection Irons in the Fire), where he wrote about how U.S. geologists used sand found in the Japanese "Fu-Go" bombs that made it to the NW US to figure out their launch sites from specific beaches near Tokyo.<p>It starts on the 9th page here<p><a href="https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1996-mcphee.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1996-mcphee.pdf</a>
Love this!<p>I've heard that desert sand is fundamentally smoother than beach or river sand. Would love to see some examples of non-beach sand side-by-side with these glorious samples.
Very neat, never thought about how different beaches are. Like the sites theme, easy to read as well.
This is quality content! A peek into the real wonders of the world and not the usual opinionated slop we are getting way too used to.