Michael Welland

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}

Michael Welland (1946 – October 2017) was a British petroleum geologist and sand expert and arenophile.{{Cite web|last=Fortey |first=Richard |date=2017 |title=Michael Welland 1946–2017 |location=London |publisher=The Geological Society |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Obituaries-2001-onwards/Obituaries-2017/Michael-Welland-1946-2017 }} His book Sand: a journey through science and the imaginationOxford University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0199563180}}), published in the USA as Sand: the never-ending story (University of California Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0520254374}}) won the 2010 John Burroughs Medal.{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bookshow/sand-and-the-imagination/3015826|title=Sand and the Imagination|date=28 July 2010|work=RadioNational: The Book Show|publisher=ABC (Australia)|accessdate=28 October 2012}}{{cite journal|last=Robinson|first=Andrew|date=13 August 2009|title=The world in a grain of sand (book review)|journal=Nature|volume=460|pages=798–799|doi=10.1038/460798a|doi-access=free}}{{cite web|url=http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/medal_award_list.html |title=John Burroughs Medal Award List |publisher=John Burroughs Association |accessdate=28 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023556/http://research.amnh.org/burroughs/medal_award_list.html |archivedate=4 March 2016 }}

Welland was a featured commentator in the documentary film "Sand Wars" (2013).

Welland was born in 1946, son of Dennis Welland, Professor of American Literature and later Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Selwyn College, Cambridge. His 1972 PhD thesis dealt with the stratigraphy and structural geology of part of the eastern Othris Mountains in Greece.{{cite book|author=Welland, M.|year=1972|title=The stratigraphy and structure of part of the E. Othris Mountains|publisher=Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Cambridge, England}} His PhD supervisor was Alan Gilbert Smith.

When Welland appeared in 2010 on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Museum of Curiosity, his proposed donation to the imaginary museum was singing sand dunes.