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You are here: Home / Universe / Which Desert Has Sand as White as Snow?

Which Desert Has Sand as White as Snow?

February 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

The sand at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico looks as though you could make snowballs out of it.

It is as white and sparkling as a fresh snowfall. White Sands is the largest desert of its kind in the world. Its sand is made of fine grains of a mineral called gypsum, the same material from which the very white plaster of Paris is made.

The wind, blowing across the empty, open spaces of the desert, shapes the sand into hills, called dunes. Because almost no vegetation can grow here, there is nothing to hold the sands in place.

As a result, the dunes are constantly shifting and changing shape. They “walk” across the desert at the rate of 30 to 40 feet a year.

A few animals, such as pocket mice and lizards, have white coloring that makes them almost invisible against the startling white “snow.”

Related Facts

  • Where Did the Sand In White Sands, New Mexico Come From and Why Is the Sand So White?
  • What Causes Singing Sand Dunes?
  • How Much Sand Is There in the Desert?
  • How Were the Sand Hills In Carolina and Georgia Formed and Where Did the Sand Come From?
  • Where Are the Highest Sand Dunes In The World?
  • How do Astronomers know there are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on an ocean beach?

Filed Under: Universe

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Could A Sandstorm Strip the Paint off Your Car?
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