";s:4:"text";s:4578:"The gypsum runoff settled in Lake Otero. Large portions of mountain ranges were sometimes split apart, causing sections of the Earth’s crust to drop thousands of feet, forming basins along these faults. During this era, the earth’s continents were joined together in one massive mega-continent, known as Pangaea. Many factors, including the latest ice age, had an effect on the formation of this magnificent landscape. White Sands National Monument Geology. However, sand is much more diverse - even beyond the pink sand beaches of Bermuda or the black sand beaches of Hawaii. Strong winds blowing across the playa pick up gypsum particles and carry them downwind. The White Sands CDP is located in eastern Doña Ana County at (32.384064, -106.497698), at the southern end of the White Sands Missile It is 4 miles (6 km) south of U.S. Route 70 and 27 miles (43 km) east of Las Cruces, the county seat.The entrance to White Sands National Park is 34 miles (55 km) to the northeast up US 70.. Over time, rain dissolved the water-solublegypsum in the mountains, and rivers carried it to the Tularosa Basin, which has no outlet to the sea. However, sand is much more diverse - even beyond the pink sand beaches of Bermuda or the black sand beaches of Hawaii. The softness of these crystals enables them to be broken down easily by the wind into smaller and smaller pieces until it becomes sand.
Snow and rain dissolve the gypsum. Over millions of years, rising and falling sea levels left behind thick layers of mineral gypsum and other dissolved minerals on the seafloor.As the earth’s tectonic plates started to shift and collide, the pressure from these movements pushed up land, eventually creating many of our modern-day mountain ranges, including the Rocky Mountains and the mountains surrounding the area that is home to the park today. Winters are cool, with nighttime temperatures falling below freezing (occasionally below 0 degrees F) an average of 100 times per year in the northern latitudes and climbing as high as 122 degrees F. in some regions. The story of the world’s largest gypsum dunefield began 280 million years ago when the Permian Sea covered this area and gypsum settled on the sea floor. In the last twelve and one-half years, there have been no temperatures at WSNM below zero degrees F.For additional information on the Chihuahuan Desert, visit the following websites:Even more gypsum deposition occurred during the last Ice Age when a larger lake, Lake Otero, covered much of the basin. Geology of White Sands White Sands . Parks › New Mexico › White Sands › Nature & Wildlife. The trapped water sank into the ground or formed shallow pools that subsequently dried out, leavi… At the dune's steep leading edge, sand builds up until gravity pulls it down the slip face, which moves the dune forward. Most of the crystal formation occurs when large floods concentrate the mineralized water every 10 to 14 years. Along Lake Lucero's shore and in the Alkali Flat, beds of selenite crystals - some three feet long - cover the ground.The forces of nature - freezing and thawing, wetting and drying - eventually break down the crystals into sand-size particles light enough to be moved by the wind. GEOLOGY OF THE WHITE SANDS OF NEW MEXICO 113 so-called tripoli described by the writer some years since. Along the margins of Lake Lucero, translucent golden-yellow crystals of selenite are exposed on the soil surface. Time-lapse videos and tours will provide an exciting sneak peek for your trip. Standing on top of a dune overlooking this brilliant sea of sand, it can be difficult to imagine where it all came from. That is because sand is defined as any mineral between .065 millimeters and 2 millimeters in diameter, which is about the width of a nickel. The gypsum that forms the white sands was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered the region 250 million years ago during the Permian era. Standing on top of a dune overlooking this sea of sand, it can be difficult to imagine where all the brilliant white sand came from. These two areas are the result of the gradual drying of an extensive Pleistocene lake that was rich in the mineral gypsum, with the dunes being the result of weathering and wind transport of these exposed surfaces. With the ending of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago, Lake Otero began to evaporate, becoming a playa, or dry lake bed.As the climate became warmer and drier, the effects of sun and wind slowly began transforming this area into the modern Chihuahuan Desert. ";s:7:"keyword";s:19:"white sands geology";s:5:"links";s:5206:"Princess Meaning Tamil,
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