Hi,
this is my WIP so far. The sand is a displacement + bump map, what do you think of it ?
Quite nice feature, render muuch faster than POV height fields.
Note : dont bother to coment other textures, they are temp ones
The color of the sand seems somewhat strange. And in the back, it turns darker. You probably have just one light, right? You should also put lights further back and up.
A nice raytracing affect on the cylinder would also shine things up 
And you might wanna turn on OSA in the render buttons, it takes care of the jagged edges.
BTW, I’m not quite sure what the red/brown puddle in the middle is. The only thing I can think of, is blood, but that would not quite fit the scene, would it