Ostravaczech1
RESILIENT
at White Sands National Park.
Shot with Fuji X-T5 and 16-80mm lens.
My partner and I decided to spend the end of 2022 exploring the White Sands National Park, located south of Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was spur of the moment kind of trip and we did not know what to expect. Also, since it is a quite the drive from where we are in Arizona, 450 miles (720 km) so we said “it better be good!”. And what we saw was an amazing place like no other.
White Sands National Park covers 145,762 acres (227.8 sq mi; 589.9 sq km) in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi (710 sq km) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals. This gypsum dunefield is the largest of its kind on Earth, with a depth of about 30 feet (9.1 m), dunes as tall as 60 feet (18 m), and about 4.5 billion short tons (4.1 billion metric tons) of gypsum sand.
Approximately 12,000 years ago, the land within the Tularosa Basin featured large lakes, streams, grasslands, and Ice Age mammals. As the climate warmed, rain and snowmelt dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains and carried it into the basin. Further warming and drying caused the lakes to evaporate and form selenite crystals. Strong winds then broke up crystals and transported them eastward. A similar process continues to produce gypsum sand today.
The park is located about 15 miles (25 km) south of Alamogordo, in the state of New Mexico, USA.
RESILIENT
at White Sands National Park.
Shot with Fuji X-T5 and 16-80mm lens.
My partner and I decided to spend the end of 2022 exploring the White Sands National Park, located south of Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was spur of the moment kind of trip and we did not know what to expect. Also, since it is a quite the drive from where we are in Arizona, 450 miles (720 km) so we said “it better be good!”. And what we saw was an amazing place like no other.
White Sands National Park covers 145,762 acres (227.8 sq mi; 589.9 sq km) in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi (710 sq km) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals. This gypsum dunefield is the largest of its kind on Earth, with a depth of about 30 feet (9.1 m), dunes as tall as 60 feet (18 m), and about 4.5 billion short tons (4.1 billion metric tons) of gypsum sand.
Approximately 12,000 years ago, the land within the Tularosa Basin featured large lakes, streams, grasslands, and Ice Age mammals. As the climate warmed, rain and snowmelt dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains and carried it into the basin. Further warming and drying caused the lakes to evaporate and form selenite crystals. Strong winds then broke up crystals and transported them eastward. A similar process continues to produce gypsum sand today.
The park is located about 15 miles (25 km) south of Alamogordo, in the state of New Mexico, USA.