A Grain of Truth: Formation of Sandstone Activity Model
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The formation of alternating laminae of
fine and coarse grains of large-scale
sedimentary structures is a wide-spread
phenomena, yet how such periodic
patterns are generated has remained
unanswered — until now. With this
teacher-developed activity, students
quickly and easily demonstrate layer
separation in the formation of sandstone
using a mixture of sugar and colored fine
sand. The mixture is placed in a squeeze
bottle then poured into a tank. As the
mixture heaps together, the sugar and
sand separate and form a striped pattern
easy to discern. It includes blue sand,
sugar, squeeze bottle, 9 7/8W x 8H x
3/4D acrylic tank, ten sandstone samples,
and instructions.