Waves of Sand and Water

Bill Bowman
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Waves of Sand and Water
Waves of Sand and Water

The Great Sand Dunes are illuminated by the late afternoon sun below the Crestone group of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The clouds above are the initial onslaught of a major winter storm streaming into the area, part of the west coast's atmospheric river.

The sand dunes occur in a natural corner, or rincon, of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range in south central Colorado. Sediment that eroded from the Sangre de Cristos and the San Juan Mountains to the west accumulated over several million years in Lake Alamosa in the valley between the mountain ranges. After the lake dried around 440,000 years ago, the sediment was blown by the predominantly westerly winds toward the Sangre de Cristos and accumulated in the rincon. Easterly winds blowing through the passes above the rincon helped halt the advance of the sand, resulting in a gradual build up of the dunes over hundreds of thousands of years.

The mountain peaks above the dunes include (from left to right) Challenger Point (commemorating the 7 astronauts who died when the space shuttle broke apart), Kit Carson and Crestone Peaks, and Crestone Needle, all above 14,000 feet (4300 m). The tallest dune is Star Dune, rising 741 feet (225 m) from the valley floor.

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Taken on: February 1, 2024
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Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM4, f/11.0, 1/200 sec, 200mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Sony ILCE-7RM4
Lens: FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS
Aperture: f/11.0
Exposure Time: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length: 200mm
ISO: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.1 (Macintosh)
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