White Sand National Monument befinne seg i staten New Mexico. Dette er et utrolig vakkert sted! Litt midt-i-ingenting og langt å kjøre; men det er verd det!

Og dette er ikke hva det ser ut som. Det er varmt ikke kaldt. Og det er sand ikke snø….

White Sand er et meget vakkert sted.
Det ulitmate kanskje? Like stille og vakkert som sne -men ikke kaldt!

Gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because it is water-soluble. Normally, rain would dissolve the gypsum and carry it to the sea. Since the Tularosa Basin has no outlet to the sea, rain that dissolves gypsum from the surrounding San Andres and Sacramento Mountains is trapped within the basin, and the rain either sinks into the ground or forms shallow pools which subsequently dry out and leave gypsum in a crystalline form, called selenite, on the surface. During the last ice age, a lake known as Lake Otero covered much of the basin. When it dried out, it left a large flat area of selenite crystals which is now the Alkali Flat.

Det er et fasinerende hvitt landskap i 28 graders varme - i oktober…

Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and created the world’s largest gypsum dune field.

White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dune field, along with the plants and animals that have successfully adapted to this constantly changing environment

Hvite dyner så langt øye kan se - og vi er bitte små midt i evigheten

Sanden former noen harde biter -

Om hvitfargen;  

 The gypsum that makes up the white sands starts out as clear, translucent sand grains. As the wind bounces the sand grains along the ground, they collide and scratch each other. The scratches change the way light reflects off the grains, making the sand appear white.

Men for det meste er den helt løs og hvit. Nesten som sukker…

Og innimellom er det faktisk noen planter også - når det en skjelden gang regner her blir parken enda vakrere, sies det…

 Det lever dyr her og, vi så ingen  men de som er her er spesialtilpasset;

Because there is virtually no fresh water within the white sands dune field, animals that live in the dunes must get almost all their water solely from the food they eat. Desert animals have evolved many ways of conserving moisture. The kangaroo rat eats only dry seeds and never drinks water.

Sanddynene flytter seg. Plantene har tilpasset seg og har som regel svært dype røtter, og det som er synlig “på toppen” av sanden er bare en liten del av planten.

One way a plant can survive is to grow faster than the dune is moving. The soaptree yucca uses this strategy. When it begins to get buried, the stem of the yucca starts to grow very rapidly and pushes the green leafy part above the surface of the sand. The stem can grow as much as 12″ a year, and may get to be 30′ tall. When you see a yucca plant on top of a sand dune, you can be sure that beneath it is a long stem that stretches all the way down through the sand.

Her kan man ikke lage engler i sneen…

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