Sand

Raw material for clay

Sand is a resource in ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended, and the in-game text states what it is for: "Used to craft Clay. Can be found in Sand rocks". It arrived with Scorched Earth, and the ARK Wiki also lists it on Crystal Isles, Extinction, Fjordur, Genesis: Part 1, Genesis: Part 2, Lost Island, Ragnarok and Valguero.

Ways to collect it

• Mining: breaking stone with a Pick gives sand, and a Stone Hatchet is just as effective.
• From the ground: it can be picked up the way Stone is, and a Whip helps with that.
• Creatures: our records name the Doedicurus as a gatherer; the wiki calls it useful for large amounts and says the Rock Elemental is good at harvesting sand too.
• Crystal Isles: Anthills there can be harvested for sand.
• Sandstorms: a player who stays outside during a sandstorm gets sand added to the inventory.

What it goes into

Our recipe data counts 4 recipes in ASE and 2 in ASA. Both games use it for Clay, 2 Sand per craft, and for the Tek Crop Plot, which takes 50. ASE also uses it in the Mirror (100) and the Boomerang (5).

Weight on the way home

Each unit weighs 0.5 and a stack holds 100, which makes 50 for a full stack. The wiki notes that sand and stone both come from mining rocks on Scorched Earth and advises leveling the weight stat or keeping a creature with a high carrying capacity nearby. 48 crate types can contain sand as well, for example Genesis Blue and Genesis Orange on Genesis Part 2.