Sand Tells Tale of D-Day

From the June 6th Chicago Tribune "In sand, a tale of Normandy" by Reuters.

Texas geologist Earle McBride visited Omaha Beach in Normandy in 1988 and took sand samples from the beach.  When he and colleague Dane Picard examined it more closely two decades later under a microscope, they found rounded grains-- quartz, feldspar, clam and oyster shells were visible along with jagged-edged grains.  These grains were an anomaly and should have been rounded like the others.

Using a different light source on the microscope, they found the jagged-edge grains had a metallic sheen and a rust-colored coating.  Further, holding a magnet to the sand, they proved to be magnetic.  They suspected them to be shrapnel and using an electron microscope, that proved true.

They also found small spherical iron and glass beads which they believe to beformed by explosions inthe air and sand.

The big surprise is that these would still be on the beach even 44 years later.  However, they suspect these will all be gone in another century or so due to corrosion and abrasion.

A piece of history just like those oil bubbles still coming up from the USS Arizona.

So Big.  Still There.  --GreGen