Siliceous ooze

Siliceous ooze is made up of tiny, tiny pieces of a mineral called silica. Imagine if you took a very small spoonful of sand, and crushed it up until it was as small as pepper. Now imagine if you did that to millions and millions of pieces of sand. That's what siliceous ooze is made of!

But where does all this silica come from? It actually comes from tiny little creatures who live in the ocean called diatoms. These diatoms make their bodies out of silica, which they then leave behind when they die. Over time, all these tiny bits of silica from the diatoms pile up on the ocean floor, creating the siliceous ooze.

Even though it's made up of tiny pieces of sand, siliceous ooze is actually really important. It's a type of sediment that's found at the bottom of the ocean, and scientists study it to learn more about the Earth's history. By analyzing the different layers of siliceous ooze, they can figure out how the ocean has changed over time, and even what the climate was like millions of years ago!