Death Valley National Park - Sand Dunes
Death Valley National Park contains several dune fields. The most visited would
be the Mesquite Dunes adjacent to Stovepipe Wells. Other popular dunes are the
Eureka Dunes, Panamint Dunes, Saline Valley Dunes, and the Ibex Dunes. Please,
refer to the Park map for locations. All these dunes are formed by the
accumulation of loose sediment, namely sand-sized particles. The source of this
sediment is from erosion of rock by water, wind, and gravity. There are a couple
of requirements for dune formation. One of these requirements is wind. Sand is
blown by wind until it reaches an obstacle. In the case of Death Valley,
obstacles are mainly mountains! Wind doesn’t have enough energy to blow the
sand-sized particles up and over the mountains, as the wind-energy decreases
they drop their load and deposit them where we see it today. It takes many wind
storms to accumulate the amount of sand we see in Death Valley’s dune fields.
Although their movement is limited by prevailing wind directions and mountains,
individual dunes are constantly changing shape and location. It not uncommon to
find that footprints from a previous day’s hike have been erased, cleaned by the
wind. Along with wind, another requirement is a dry climate. Fortunately for our
dunes, the average rainfall in Death Valley is only 1.65 inches per year.
Moisture would cause sand-grained sized particles to stick together, making it
much harder for wind to move the material.
|
|
Burton
Mountain Hardwear
Merrell Shoes
Nikwax