The Earth Story

Explore the national parks of colorado

Light and sediment of Great Sand Dunes National Park shift in timelapse view.

Story of a “Trike” aircraft pilot shooting absolutely incredible footage over the top of Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.

natgeo Video by @renan_ozturk A love letter for the earth. Our experimental short film just went live today - a portrait of @shotsfromabove (Chris Dahl-Bredine), our soft-spoken dark-horse friend who is finding an interconnectedness and love for this planet through photography. ~
 With @chrisburkard & @camp4collective this project has become a stepping stone and learning process to be able to use a low impact aircraft and the latest camera tech to bring stories that support public lands to life! ~

Bitey

This park ranger in Great Sand Dunes National Park is holding a fossil mammoth tooth. Yeah, they were this big.

This area hosts fossils because the valley was once a lot wetter. Mammoths found large amounts of food here before the valley dried and the sand dunes formed. Sand deposited at the bottom of lakes that filled the bottom of this valley supplied the first sand reworked into the sand dunes.

-JBB

Image credit: NPS https://flic.kr/p/YyBCZf

That time of year As sunlight begins to decrease day to day in the northern hemisphere, plants begin making less chlorophyll in their leaves, removing the source of their green color. Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado sits at elevations between 2000 and 4000 meters (7500 to 13000 feet). This picture captures the Aspen trees on the slopes above the sand dunes; along with Alaska and Canada these are some of the first trees on the North American continent starting to change color for the fall. -JBB Image credit: NPS https://flic.kr/p/XJqA7F On the geology of these dunes: https://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js2JB2Yev

Great Sand Dunes National park in a Wind Storm

Singing sand avalanche, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.

Giant Sand Box

If you find yourself driving south through Colorado's San Luis Valley, you can't help but notice the giant piles of sand tucked against the Sangre de Cristos Mountains near the town of Alamosa. The Great Sand Dunes National Park is home to the tallest sand dunes in North America. The dune field covers about 78 square kilometers (30 square miles) , and the tallest, Star Dune rises 228 meters (750 ft) from its base. If you've ever wanted to try sandboarding or sand sledding, this is the place to visit.

How did all that sand get there? The story begins with the formation of the Sangre de Cristos and San Juan mountains, which created the San Luis Valley between the two mountain chains. Rivers draining from the mountains into the valley formed the ancient Lake Alamosa. Over time, the water from the lake evaporated, leaving dry sediment and sand exposed to the wind. The winds in this area blow predominantly from the southwest, which has funneled the sand up against a low curve in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Normally, winds blow from the valley floor to the mountains, but during storms, winds can blow from the opposite direction, causing the sand to pile up vertically. The balance of the opposing winds has created a very stable dune field, with little growth or loss. Although scientists are not sure about the precise age of the dune field, a recent paper suggests that formation began around 440,000 years ago after Lake Alamosa dried up.

Amy

References:

http://www.nps.gov/grsa/naturescience/upload/madole_geology_article.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/grsa/naturescience/sanddunes.htm

Photo credit Amy McCullough

Great Sand Dunes Sunset

This brilliantly pink sky was photographed in February over Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. These dunes, the tallest in North America, reach a height of 229 meters above the surrounding basin floor.

The sediment that forms these dunes is accumulating in the San Luis Basin, a geologic feature forming at the tip of the Rio Grande Rift. As part of the continent spreads apart, it opens space that has been filled by lakes and buried by sediment. Today, winds whip across this valley from side to side. Sand is picked up by the wind and dropped when the winds run into the mountains on the basin edge. The sand is then shaped into these high dunes by winds that switch direction depending on the weather. The alternating winds keep the sand piled on one site rather than spreading out across a larger area.

-JBB

Image credit: NPS/Patrick Myers https://flic.kr/p/SbpAFE

Sandboarding at Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Oh. My. Goodness.