Hi Renee!
Both the Indo Pacific and Hawaiian are natural basaltic black sands exactly as found in the Pacific Rim and other fringe reef environments. As this is the real thing, the grains contain basaltic minerals including magnetite. This is the mineral that has enabled scientists to date the ocean floor, and confirm sea floor spreading and plate techtonics the two greatest geological discoveries of the last century! Magnetite is an iron bearing mineral. In fact, black basaltic rock contains a full suite of exotic minor and trace metal bearing minerals many of them critical for life processes. Since the solubility of these minerals is very low, these metals are never released into the water toxic quantities, yet they are present to be utilized by living creatures that must have access to them (a good thing). Some grains may also stick to a magnet (not as good). I especially like the products because it is an absolute necessity for an authentic recreation of the environment where much of our sea life comes from ( Indonesia , Bali, Sulawesii , Hawaii , Japanese Islands , Sumatra, Pacific Central America, many Caribbean Islands and other locations) and I like the trace element content but I try to avoid getting it on the magnets. I want to stress that there are no iron particle impurities rusting in the substrate! Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify this.
Sincerely,
Rick Greenfield
I figured, why speculate when we could ask.....
