New Jersey’s Ancient Sandbox (with music)

New Jersey isn’t just highways and cities — it’s sitting on a massive layer of sand.

Much of southern New Jersey is part of the Pine Barrens, one of the largest continuous sand

deposits on the East Coast. Millions of years ago, this area sat beneath

warm, shallow oceans that dumped thick layers of sand and sediment. Those sediments

hardened, eroded, and were reworked over time — forming a deep,

sandy foundation. Then came the glaciers. Ice sheets never covered southern New Jersey,

but their meltwater reshaped it. As glaciers melted, massive rivers flushed sand south,

piling it into the Pine Barrens. That sand is so nutrient-poor that most plants can’t