Surprisingly, not really even that. As pointed out in the Wired article The Deadly Global War for Sand [1]: &quot;Desert sand generally doesn’t work for construction; shaped by wind rather than water, desert grains are too round to bind together well.&quot;<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;03&#x2F;illegal-sand-mining&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wired.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;03&#x2F;illegal-sand-mining&#x2F;</a>