I think you’re confusing that with Gypsum and/or other evaporites. Diatomaceous Earth are the hulls of miniscule critters composed of Silica.
It is great for excluding insects from interiors, and by the same method apparently pretty good on intestinal parasites but you definitely don’t want to inhale it because of it being silica, extremely fine and sharp.
It’s also nearly impossible to generate a proctor curve on as our lab crew attempted on a sample brought in from south coastal area of CA. The tests (shells) are like little hollow glass containers, and the curve hadn’t “broken” (and produced the highest density/moisture value) at 70% added water…🤣
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No confusion here. Gypsum= sheetrock= chalk=diatomaceous earth. There’s a US Gypsum plant near here that mines the stuff to make sheetrock out of. Those bright white miniscule critters come from ancient seabed. I’m not sure why an insect would be bothered by sheetrock? The USG guys use a four post 400 ton press to squeeze the stuff into flat sheets. there’s no binder. Just glue to hold the face paper on.
Wouldn’t the south coast of Kali be mostly beach sand, which would be high in silicone? That’s not diatomaceous earth.