Images related to Elevation Map of Badain Jaran Desert

Dune Types in the Issaouane Erg, Eastern Algeria
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Dune Types in the Issaouane Erg, Eastern Algeria

One of the main reasons that rainless regions like the Sahara Desert are interesting from the perspective of landscape science is that the work of flowing water—mainly streams and rivers—becomes less important than the work of wind. Over millennia, if enough sand is available, winds can generate dunes of enormous size, arranged in regular patterns. Long, linear dunes stretch generally north to south across much of northeast Algeria, covering a vast tract (~140,000 square kilometers) of the Sahara Desert known as the Erg Oriental. Erg means “dune sea” in Arabic, and the term has been adopted by modern geologists. Spanning this image from a point on the southwest margin of the erg (image center point: 28.9°N 4.8°W) are a series of 2-kilometer-wide linear dunes, comprised of red sand. The dune chains are more than 100 meters high. The “streets” between the dunes are grayer areas free of sand.

Published Sep 11, 2006

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Registan Dunes
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Registan Dunes

Published Feb 3, 2004

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Star Dunes in Algeria
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Star Dunes in Algeria

Complex wind patterns left these distinctive star-shapes in the sands of the Grand Erg Oriental.

Published Sep 29, 2013

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Issaouane Erg, Algeria
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Issaouane Erg, Algeria

he Issaouane Erg (sand sea) is located in eastern Algeria between the Tinrhert Plateau to the north and the Fadnoun Plateau to the south. Considered to be part of the Sahara Desert, the Issaouane Erg covers an area of approximately 38,000 km2. These complex dunes form the active southwestern border of the sand sea.

Published Feb 7, 2005

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Dune Movement Around Aorounga
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Dune Movement Around Aorounga

Photographs taken by astronauts on the ISS in 2003 and 2013 show the evolution of a dune field in Chad.

Published Dec 9, 2013

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The Algodones Dunes
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The Algodones Dunes

This detailed true-color image from February 24, 2011, shows the variety of sand dunes that make up the Algodones Dunes in southeastern California.

Published May 27, 2011

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Sand Dunes in the Tenere Desert, Niger
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Sand Dunes in the Tenere Desert, Niger

Layers of dunes march across a sand sea in the east-central Tenéré Desert of Niger in this astronaut photo from December 1, 2009.

Published Dec 28, 2009

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Dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental
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Dunes of the Grand Erg Oriental

Large linear dunes stretch across the Great Eastern Sand Sea of northern Algeria.

Published Apr 4, 2016

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Erg Oriental, Algeria
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Erg Oriental, Algeria

Published Feb 12, 2007

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St. Anthony Sand Dunes, Idaho
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St. Anthony Sand Dunes, Idaho

White sand dunes spill across the Snake River Plain in a wide arc in this detailed, photo-like image acquired by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s EO-1 satellite on September 25, 2010.

Published Sep 29, 2010

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Sand Dunes, Marzuq Sand Sea, Southwest Libya
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Sand Dunes, Marzuq Sand Sea, Southwest Libya

This astronaut photograph shows classic large and small sand masses of the central Sahara Desert, where wind is a more powerful land-shaping agent than water.

Published Jan 19, 2009

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