sand Mineral, rock, or soil particles that are 0.0008-0.08 in. (0.02-2 mm) in diameter. Most rock-forming minerals are found in sand, but quartz is by far the most common. Most sands also contain a small quan¬ tity of feldspar, as well as white mica. All sands contain small quantities of heavy rock-forming minerals, including garnet, tourmaline, zircon, rutile, topaz, pyroxenes, and amphiboles. In the pottery and glassmaking industries very pure quartz sands are used as a source of silica. Similar sands are used for lining the hearths of steel furnaces. Molds used in foundries for casting metal are made of sand with a clay binder. Quartz and garnet sands are used extensively as abrasives. Among ordinary sand’s many uses, it is a basic ingredient of mortar, cement, and concrete. See also tar sand.
Sand, \'sa n d,\ English \'sand\ George orig. Amandine-Aurore-
Lucile Dupin (b. July 1, 1804,
Paris, France—d. June 8, 1876,
Nohant) French writer. During child¬ hood she gained a love of the coun¬ tryside that would inform most of her works. Married in 1822, she soon tired of her husband, Casimir Dude- vant, and began a series of liaisons; her lovers included Prosper Merimee,
Alfred de Musset, and, most impor¬ tantly, Frederic Chopin. She became famous (under her pseudonym) with her novel Indiana (1832), a protest against conventions that bind an unhappy wife to her husband. Lilia (1833) extended her iconoclastic views on social and class associa¬ tions. Similar themes, along with her sympathy for the poor, are evident in her finest works, the so-called rustic novels, including The Devil’s Pool (1846), The Country Waif( 1848), and Little Fadette (1849).
Sand Creek Massacre or Chivington Massacre (Nov. 29,1864) Surprise attack by U.S. troops on a Cheyenne camp. A force of 1,200 men, mostly Colorado volunteers under Col. John M. Chivington, attacked sev¬ eral hundred Cheyenne camped on Sand Creek near Fort Lyon in south¬ eastern Colorado Territory. The Indians had been conducting peace negotiations with the fort’s commander; when the attack began, they raised a white flag, but the troops continued to attack, massacring more than 200 of them. The slayings led to the Plains Indian wars.
sand dollar Any echinoderm (order Clypeastroida, class Echinoidea) that has a coinlike, thin-edged body. Five “petals” spread out from the center of the upper body. It burrows in sand, feeding on organic particles wafted to the mouth, located in the center of the body’s underside. Small spines covering the body are used for digging and crawling. Tests (exter¬ nal skeletons) of the common sand dollar ( Echinarachnius parma), which often wash up on beaches in North America and Japan, are 2^1 in. (5-10 cm) in diameter.
sand dune Hill, mound, or ridge of windblown sand or other loose material such as clay particles. Dunes are commonly associated with desert regions and seacoasts, and there are large areas of dunes in non¬ glacial parts of Antarctica.
sand flea or beach flea Hopping terrestrial crustacean (family Tal- itridae). The European sand flea ( Talitrus saltator ) is about 0.6 in. (1.5 cm) long. The long-horned sand flea ( T. longicornis ), found on the North American Atlantic coast, has antennae the same length as the waxy white body, up to 1 in. (2.5 cm) long. During the day, sand fleas lie buried near the high-tide mark; at night, they forage for organic debris. The common sand flea ( Orchestia agilis, or platensis ) lives along Atlantic coasts of Europe and the Americas.
sand fly Any of several species in the dipteran family Phlebotomidae (sometimes considered part of the family Psychodidae) with aquatic lar¬ vae that live in the intertidal zone of coastal beaches, in mud, or in wet organic debris. The genus Phlebotomus transmits the pappataci fever virus, and in parts of South America, Africa, and Asia it carries the pro¬ tozoan parasites that cause kala azar, Oriental sore, espundia, and bar- tonellosis. The name is also used for species of the blackfly and biting midge families.
sand shark Any of about six species of shallow-water, bottom¬ dwelling sharks in the genus Odon- taspis (family Odontaspididae), found along tropical and temperate coastlines of all oceans. They are 10-20 ft (3-6 m) long and are brown or gray above, paler below. Vora¬ cious but generally sluggish, they have long, slim, pointed teeth and prey on fishes and invertebrates. Two species, the sand tiger ( O. taurus) of the Atlantic and the gray nurse (O. arenarius ) of Australia, are potentially dangerous.
sandalwood Any semiparasitic plant of the genus Santalum (family Santalaceae; the sandalwood family), or its wood, especially the wood of the true, or white, sandalwood, Santalum album, which is used in mak¬ ing furniture and from which oil used in making perfumes, soaps, candles, and incense is derived. The approximately 10 species of Santalum are distributed throughout South Asia and the islands of the South Pacific. The sandalwood family contains more than 400 species of semiparasitic shrubs, herbs, and trees in about 36 genera, found in tropical and temper¬ ate regions. In some genera the leaves are reduced to scalelike structures. The green leaves contain some chlorophyll, which allows the plants to make food, but all sandalwoods are parasites to a certain extent, obtain¬ ing water and nutrients from their hosts. Most, including S. album, are root parasites, but some are stem parasites.
Sandalwood Island See Sumba
sandbar or offshore bar Submerged or partly exposed ridge of sand or coarse sediment that is built by waves offshore from a beach. The swirling turbulence of waves breaking off a beach excavates a trough in the sandy bottom. Some of this sand is carried forward onto the beach and the rest is deposited on the offshore flank of the trough. Sand sus¬ pended in the backwash and in rip currents adds to the bar, as does some sand moving shoreward from deeper water. The bar’s top is kept below still-water level by the plunge of the waves breaking over it.
Sandburg, Carl (b. Jan. 6, 1878, Galesburg, Ill., U.S.—d. July 22, 1967, Flat Rock, N.C.) U.S. poet, historian, novelist, and folklorist.
Sandburg tried many occupations and fought in the Spanish-American War before moving to Chicago in 1913, where he worked in journal¬ ism. He won recognition in 1914 with poems, including “Chicago,” perhaps his best-known, published in Poetry magazine. His Whitmanesque free verse eulogizing American workers appeared in such volumes as Smoke and Steel (1920) and The People, Yes (1936). The American Songbag (1927) and New American Songbag (1950) collect folk songs he performed. His other works include Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years (1926), Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (1939, Pulitzer Prize), Remem¬ brance Rock (1948), and four chil¬ dren’s books, including Rootabaga Stories (1922).
Sanders, Barry (b. July 16, 1968, Wichita, Kan., U.S.) U.S. football player. He attended Oklahoma State University, where he won the Heis- man Trophy (1988) and set 34 college rushing records. As a running back for the Detroit Lions (1989-99), he rushed for 15,269 yd, placing him third behind Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton in all-time career rushing
George Sand
COURTESY OF THE MUS^E CARNAVALET, PARIS
Sand shark (Odontaspis).
GRANT HEILMAN—EB INC.
Carl Sandburg, 1949.
COURTESY OF THE ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY, SPRINGFIELD
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Sanders ► sankin kotai I 1681
yardage. He holds records for the most games with 150 yd or more rush¬ ing (25), the most 100-yd games in a season (14), and the most touch¬ down runs of 50 or more yards (15). A runner with exceptional speed and balance, Sanders was known for his array of jukes and spins that left defenders grasping at air.
Sanders, Otto Liman von See Otto Liman von Sanders
sandhill crane Crane species (Grus canadensis family Gruidae), 35—43 in. (90-110 cm) long, with a red crown, a bluish or brownish gray body tinged with sandy yellow, and a long, harsh, penetrating call. It is one of the oldest of all existing bird species. It breeds from Alaska to Hudson Bay; it formerly bred in south-central Canada and the Great Lakes region of the U.S. but is now uncommon in those regions. A smaller, non- migratory subspecies breeds in Florida and southern Georgia. Sandhill cranes have been used as surrogate parents in efforts to save the whoop¬ ing crane from extinction.