Sand & geology
Whitehaven Beach
white sandlithic-rich (volcanic/collisional terrane)
What's in the sand
Whitehaven's sand is 98-99% pure silica — unusually fine quartz that reflects sunlight rather than absorbing it, keeping the sand cool in tropical heat. Geologists believe the deposit was transported by ancient currents from a source still not conclusively identified.
References: source 1
Predicted regional composition
Q-F-L (quartz, feldspar, lithic) fractions sampled from the GloPrSM global sand model at this beach's location.
Q 41%
L 52%
GloPrSM v1.0.0 (IJ_QFL). GloPrSM is calibrated on modern river sand; beach sand in the same watershed is a reasonable proxy but not identical.
Got a close-up photo of the sand here?
Take a picture with a coin for scale and send it over. We're building a global grain-photo library and this beach isn't in it yet.
Whitehaven Beach-20.2827, 149.0349