Located 35 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado, nestled against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, sits the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The park features huge sand dunes, the tallest in North America.
The dunes comprise about 11% of a massive sand deposit that covers more than 330 square mile.
Most of the sand is created by the freeze and thaw in the mountains 65 miles to the west of the dunes, and the action of the snow melt each spring. The steams of snow melt carry the sand out into the valley, and the prevailing winds move it across the valley.
The dunes are estimated to be from 12,000 to a million years old. I realize this is a big span, but I'm not doing the research, so we'll go with it.
The dunes remain stable because the prevailing winds keep pushing them up against the Sangre de Cristo's, but cannot lift the sand over the mountains. Any sand that does reach the mountains is washed back down by the snow melt. As a result the dunes are continually reshaped, but never move very far in any direction.
If you'd like more info, use this link >>> Great Sand Dunes National Park
1 comment:
Did you both miss going to the alligator farm by the dunes? If you did, try going there on a return trip. This place is not like the Florida farms. The farm was started to make a place to get rid of talapia fish guts. The place is so hoky that it is actually cool. The dunes are great and show how important an underground circuit of water is. This underground water supply is more important at the dunes than in Indie., especially now when Indie is getting a lot of frozen water. We, here in Canon, have not gotten even the first snowflake. Our days have been merry and very bright, lots of warm sun, but no water.
I loved the reference to the pail and shovel. You remind of Dave Barry's writing.
Guess who, ha ha.
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