Warning the world is about to run out of sand

Speaking of sand, people immediately think of the vast deserts, stretching to the horizon. No one thinks that this resource will be exhausted.

Not only used for construction, sand is an indispensable material in areas such as oil drilling, electronic chip production, molding, cosmetics, paper, paint, plastic, glass, and many other fields. Other production.

The exploitation of sand from the seabed is the main cause of landslides in beaches - (Photo: The Conversation).

Sand ranks second after the country in the group of most consumed natural resources. Sand is the most exploited human material, than oil.

Demand for construction sand around the world, especially in Asia, has increased at a rapid rate. At the same time, the construction of dams spread on river systems throughout the country has reduced the amount of sand deposition that can be exploited.

According to a survey by Freedonia organization, in 2016 the total volume of exploited sand for the world's construction demand is 13.7 billion tons, 70% is consumed in Asia, of which China consumes nearly 5 billion tons. .

The Asia-Pacific region is home to the most powerful sand mining, followed by Europe and North America.

Sand mining is one of the highest commercial value industries in the world with $ 70 billion.

In the most sandy countries, China leads the way due to the rapidly increasing urbanization demand.

Only from 2011-2013, China consumed a greater amount of construction concrete than the entire volume of concrete consumed by the US in the whole 20th century.

Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also consume a huge amount of sand for their construction projects.

Within four decades, Singapore's area has increased to 130km ² completely thanks to the use of sand to encroach on the sea. The UAE uses 185 million cubic meters to build artificial islands for tourism.

Sand sources in the seafloor off the UAE have almost been exhausted, to the point that they have to import sand from Australia to cater to the needs of major construction projects in the country.

But, not any kind of sand can be used for construction. Although desert sand source is very large, it cannot be used for concrete production due to its small, smooth, smooth texture, low hardness and poor cement bond.

Sand desert but much but can not be used for construction and industry - (Photo: The Conversation).

Sea sand is also only used for leveling because of fine and round grain, low bearing capacity, contains lots of chloride salt and organic impurities.

Salt will corrode the reinforcement and alter the chemical composition of concrete, organic impurities will make the components of the material unconnected. These factors will weaken the structure of architecture.

If used for construction, it must be selected to select the seeds of satisfactory size, treat desalination and remove impurities, cost a lot of time and cost.

The only type of sand available in nature is sandstone - found only in natural sand mines, riverbeds and certain beaches.

This sand forms from natural erosion of rocks (due to wind, rain, flow, temperature variations) from 25,000 years ago. This sand has a high hardness, has many angles to create a good bond between the grains of sand and cement, thus increasing the strength of the concrete.

Natural resources such as sand and oil are limited, it takes tens of thousands of years to form. Over-exploitation of these non-renewable resources will lead to serious consequences for the environment and social security of many countries around the world.

An illegal sand mine in Raipur village - (Photo: Wired).

Satellite image taken in 1995 of Ba Duong Lake - where the largest sand reserve in China - (Photo: Smithsonian).

Satellite images taken in 2013 show the environmental damage caused by excessive sand exploitation in the Ba Duong Lake area - (Photo: Smithsonian).