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White Sands, New Mexico

White Sands is located in southeast New Mexico just outside of Alamogordo, in the Tularosa Basin. It is one of the most unique environments in terms of beauty and geology. The white Gypsum sands cover an area of 275 square miles and interestingly so, for most often Gypsum is dissolved by water and carried away in rivers and streams. But since the sands, after being eroded off the San Andres Highlands, are contained in the Tularosa Basin due to the lack of a drainage system, they ultimately have and continue to accumulate in the basin. As the sand accumulates, so do intervals of water that result in small pools in lower areas in the dunes. When these pools dry, what is left behind is the mineral selenite. Some of the selenite crystals that can be found are up to 3 feet long.

In late Cretaceous time the sedimentary rocks of the region were folded into the structure of a broad dome. This exposed the rocks to an extensional environment where what resulted was faulting. Then in late Tertiary time, stresses caused the dome to slide down along the near vertical faults that had developed 60 million years earlier, forming a graben structure. This graben structure is known today as the Tularosa Basin, and the crust that was not downdropped (on either side of the basin) are the present-day San Andres Mountains (in the west) and Sacracmento Mountains (in the east).

This picture shows the constant and steady movement of the sand dunes, driven by the wind that comes from the southwest, which is the direction this picture was taken towards. Notice how the sands accumulate in mini 'bars' behind the plants where they are safe from the moving powers of the wind. The area in front of the plants is close to a straight drop...so on the wind will remove all of the sand around the plants, and eventually underneath them as well. Plant life does not survive for long in this constantly changing environment.

There are several types of dunes found at White Sands. Transverse and Barchan dunes are the type in these pictures. Parabolic and Dome dunes are also on the outskirts of the park, and cannot be reached by visitors. The public road in the park cuts straight through the Barchan and Transverse dunes. The park service has had to plow the sand off of the road after significant storms, where heavy winds have left their signatures on the environment.

	As you can see, the park offers more than just the experience of learning, but also the experience of flying. Slopes of dunes provide endless entertainment for those who don't mind landing in snow-white sand up to their shins.

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