POTD: Comings and Goings
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Grow Fast or Die
White Sands National Monument
New Mexico
2019
With shifting dunes, sand often starts to bury plants. The only way to stay alive is to grow fast enough to keep up with the sand. But the inverse can also happen, i.e., the sand around a plant may be disappearing, blown away by the wind. In that case a plant needs to be able to create an island of stabilized ground around roots. The plant can then end up surviving, albeit on a pedestal of sandy soil sometimes reaching 15 or 20 feet high.
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Shifting Sands
White Sands National Monument
New Mexico
2019
Sand dunes are anything but static constructions. This shot was from the current northern edge of the dune field, but due to the wind, the entire time we were there they were visibly and actively extending the boundary.
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Wrong Turn?
White Sands National Monument
New Mexico
2019
One of the reasons we went to New Mexico was to escape all the snow that has accumulated in Montana this year. From the looks of this photo, we made a wrong turn somewhere. Fortunately, looks can be deceiving.