Trinitrotoluene (TNT)-based landmines have been used in numerous wars over the course of history, though improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have become more commonly used since around 2003. In particular, the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have seen a prevalence of IED use with devices that contain explosive substances ranging from fertilizer-based homemade explosives, to TNT-based, to a combination of homemade and commercial/military explosives. Buried IEDs have proved to be a danger to civilians and military personnel alike, and many efforts have been made to avoid and remove devices both during conflicts and after their resolutions. Military working dogs and certain electronic detection instruments rely upon the vapors from the headspace of explosives for their detection and safe excavation. In the case of buried devices, the adsorption of the explosive’s volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the soil or sand they are buried under influences the transport of the vapors to the ground’s surface, where they are then able to be detected. In this work, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) equipped with silicon dioxide-coated sensors were used in conjunction with headspace analysis of 2,4-DNT buried in either soil and sand. The QCM allows for the determination of adsorption rates as the VOCs sorb to and then desorb from the surface of the sand-mimic sensors. Headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) data enables an evaluation of vapor transport over time.