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Welcome to GreatSandDunes.info Your
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Guidebook
The
ESSENTIAL Guide to
More Info
What's there to do at Great Sand Dunes? Images from Great Sand Dunes & surrounding area Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) News updated 5/28/07 Calendar updated 12/5/06
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Images from GREAT SAND DUNES National Park & Preserve and the surrounding area "Ghost Forest"
There are some actively-advancing dunes that have "escaped" the main dune mass, and move up to 35 feet per year. The speediest escape dune measured so far managed to travel 20 feet in just 40 days. These dunes are mainly exposed to only one wind direction. The Escape Dunes we see today may have first broken away from the main dune field during a drought period in the 1950s, when they managed their bold “dash” across Medano Creek. As geologist Andrew Valdez puts it, “Don’t be a tree here.” The existing trees are smothered by the encroaching dunes, which eventually move on, leaving a ghost forest behind. Cottonwoods tend to fare better than evergreens when attacked by the sand. Cottonwoods are capable of converting lower limbs to roots, which may help them continue to draw sufficient moisture from the surrounding sands to survive. However, the escape dunes often win the battle between tree and sand.
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All photos and text on this site copyright 2002-2007 Winger & Associates, Inc. No photos or text may be reproduced, copied or distributed without written permission.
Last updated: 07/16/2007 |
