Thanks guys!
Let's see if I can explain my method for that sand,
The texture itself is quite simple, its a fake stones shader with very small rocks and a very high density. The stone color defines the color of the sand. The settings I used specifically were .032 for scale and 5 for density. You can mainly tweak stone scale to define how course you want your sand. My first few renders had it looking like gravel with stone scale at .06 . I have found that after increasing density to 5-10, increasing it much more does not seem to make much difference at all. Keep in mind, with this method the sand texture is heavily dependent on your detail setting. I rendered it at .85. Low details really make this texture look completely different. Another thing to be aware of is your position above the sand. To get the right look it will matter alot. Moodflow displayed a method where he tied the fake stones shader into a reflective shader to give the sand specular highlights. I tried it and it did look great, but I couldn't stand the 12+ hours of extra render time that shader promises.
The rifts are where the functions come into place. I will share with you the clip file I used for the function plugging into my displacement shader. This was heavily based on functions provided by David Burnett in the tgd of his function created terrain, so remember, all credit for this portion lies with him. I modified it here and there to fit my needs but it still follows his model. To really learn more about this I would suggest you look at his thread though, not mine. In my version I have labeled the various constants to show what parts of the displacement they will effect.
The larger stone scale you use the more displacement you will need on the rifts to compensate. Make sure you use a high detail when blending these two effects.
Here's the clip fileHope this helps guys.