Alexis Torrez

Week 7 - Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

This week's travels brought me to Death Valley. The most interesting area that I enjoyed was the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. A photo found online from Wikipedia shows how beautiful the view is. The three type of dunes located in this area are crescent, linear, and star shaped. There are only a few areas that the sand is trapped and the the dunes cover a small amount of Death Valley, less than 1% to be exact. I would like to know why the color of the sand is so light in this area. I am also interested in why the area of the dunes is so small. I would examine the trees in the area to learn about the natural habitat for wildlife. A geological map might help me locate the source of the dune sands.