Images related to A Plateau of Chasms

Coastal Dunes, Brazil
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Coastal Dunes, Brazil

The area shown here (10 kilometers across) is a small part of the dune field which is now protected as the Len&ccelde;óis Maranhenses National Park, on Brazil’s north coast, about 700 kilometers east of the Amazon River mouth. Persistent winds blow off the equatorial Atlantic Ocean onto Brazil from the east, driving white sand inland from the 100 kilometer stretch of coast (upper margin of the image), to form a large field of dunes. The strongly regular pattern of these dunes is a common characteristic of dune fields. The basic shape of each sand mass, repeated throughout the view, is a crescent-shaped dune. In an area with a rich supply of sand such as coastal Brazil, individual crescents coalesce to form entire chains many miles long. The wind strength and supply of sand are sufficient to keep the dunes active, and thus free of vegetation, despite 1500 mm (60 inches) of rainfall annually. The dark areas between the white dunes are fresh water ponds that draw fisherman to this newly established park.

Published Oct 20, 2003

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Tifernine Dune Field, Algeria
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Tifernine Dune Field, Algeria

The Tifernine Dune Field is located at the southernmost tip of the Grand Erg Oriental, a “dune sea” that occupies a large portion of the Sahara Desert in eastern Algeria.

Published Sep 29, 2008

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The Shallow Aquifers of Erg Chebbi
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The Shallow Aquifers of Erg Chebbi

A layer of impervious rock under this sea of sand sends water draining toward villages along its edge.

Published Dec 10, 2016

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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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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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Brazilian Dune Fields
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Brazilian Dune Fields

Sand dunes sprawl along the coast of northeastern Brazil, sometimes extending kilometers inland.

Published Jul 11, 2010

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Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado
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Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado

The Sangre de Cristo Mountains of south-central Colorado stretch dramatically from top left to lower right of this astronaut photograph. The mountains are outlined by dark green forests at lower elevations and white, snow-capped peaks at the highest elevations. Dun-colored dunes are banked up on the west side of the mountains. These dunes make up the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

Published Jan 21, 2008

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Sand Dunes, Junggar Basin, Northwestern China
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Sand Dunes, Junggar Basin, Northwestern China

This photograph taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station highlights a sand dune field within the Burqin-Haba River-Jimunai Desert near the borders of China, Mongolia, Russia, and Kazakhstan.

Published Sep 19, 2011

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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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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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