It’s a Black Beach In Minnesota – But Not Made Like Hawaii’s Black Beach

Alright - we here in Minnesota usually will take whatever we can from our unique surroundings.  Unique as in not other state has as many lakes as we do.  It says "Land of 10,000 Lakes".  But it's actually over 11 thousand lakes.  And with a lot of those lakes comes beaches.  No, not the beaches like you would find in the Caribbean, but they are

still beaches with not nearly as white and soft sand as you might find somewhere more tropical.  Like Hawaii.

We have a "black beach" in Northern Minnesota.  I'm sure you have seen it on social media, or just in various pictures in travel magazines and such.  But the way that it turned black is not great.

According to Only In Your State, the black beach in Silver Bay, Minnesota is a result of polution.  Yep.  Gross, right?

The reason the beach's sand and pebbles tend to be more darkly colored than those of other Lake Superior strands is related to their origin: tailings from iron ore processing were dumped directly into Lake Superior, which discolored the rocks and sand near the facility. Although the water and sand have been deemed safe for recreation, the discoloration is still the result of industrial pollution

The Black Beach you will find in Hawaii is colored because of the volcanic rock in the area.  That has been broken down over the years and became "sandy".  Much different than the polluted black beach here in Minnesota.  But it's still cool to see.  Just not quite as dark as what you might see sometimes on social media.

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