Quartz sand has a high resistance to being crushed. In the petroleum industry, sand slurries are forced down oil and gas wells under very high pressures in a process known as hydraulic fracturing. This high pressure fractures the reservoir rocks, and the sandy slurry injects into the fractures. The durable sand grains hold the fractures open after the pressure is released. These open fractures facilitate the flow of natural gas into the well bore.
igh-Purity Quartz Sand: Did you know that quartz is the main ingredient in glass? Geologists locate deposits of sand or sandstone that are composed almost entirely of quartz. Surprisingly, they have found numerous sand deposits that naturally consist of 98% quartz or more! This material is mined, processed to remove impurities, and then melted at the glass factory. The sand above was mined from the St. Peter Sandstone of Wisconsin. Photo copyright iStockphoto / BanksPhotos.
