The Barometer Online

Issue date: 1/13/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Cory Reed College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences professor Robert Holman has been collecting sand samples from all over the world since the early 1980s. Since the New York Times ran an article on him last week, Holman has received 120 emails from eager sand contributors.

Armed with 864 samples of sand from around the world, Professor Rob Holman from the marine geology and geophysics department at OSU can describe seasonal changes, sand progressions and information about the beach where the sample was taken - without ever having been there.

"My primary research seeks to understand the physics of beaches," Holman said, "so how waves from the deep ocean are changed as they enter the shallow beach area and how they, in turn, drive changes in the beach."

Holman began collecting sand in the 1980s on an impulse, and his collection has grown to nearly 900 samples. Since his article was published in The New York Times last month, he has also received over 120 emails from people offering to send sand to him from exotic places to help fill out his collection.

It's possible to look at the composition of the sand and tell whether or not it is from an island, a beach or sand from a desert.

It's also possible to decipher how old the sand is - whether the sand is larger and less broken down, signifying fresh sand, or fine sand that is rounded, showing how much the sand has aged.

Students in Holman's classes can almost guarantee that they will have a section on the test where they are required to tell the professor something about sand and where it is likely from.

While it may seem like a unique hobby, Holman is not the only person to collect sand. The International Sand Collectors Society, with their motto "Discovering the world, Grain by Grain," is a place where people may learn about sand and how to collect it as well as history about collecting sand.

Along with collecting sand, Holman is currently working with a computerized photography system named Argus.

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