"What Was That?" -- Sand and Debris Patterns

Sand and Debris Patterns

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How to Use This Tool: Say you just flew over some interesting sand-like feature, and now you want to know what it is. Scroll down through some of the possibilities below. If you find what you're looking for, you can open it in Google Earth by clicking the Google Earth icon:

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Coastal Dunes - Dunes form on beaches when waves bring more sand than they take away, winds blow sand inland, and vegetation or another obstacle blocks sand from blowing too far inland. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Crescentic Dunes (aka Barchans) - Crescent-shaped sand dunes that form from wind that blows consistently from one direction. The "wings" point in the direction the wind blows. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Star Dunes - Radially-symmetrical sand dunes with multiple "arms". They form in places where the wind can blow from multiple directions. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Parabolic Dunes - U-shaped sand dunes, anchored by vegetation. The "wings" point into the wind. (The opposite of barchan dunes). {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Longitudinal Dunes (aka Seif Dunes) - Long sand hills that form parallel to wind direction. The opposite is a transverse dune, perpendicular to the wind direction. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Transverse Dunes - Long sand hills that form perpendicular to wind direction. The opposite is a longitudinal dune, parallel to the wind direction. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Erg - A sand sea. The only active ergs in the U.S. are the Yuma Desert of Arizona, the Algodones of southeast California, the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado, White Sands of New Mexico, and the Nebraska Sand Hills {read more}. [Note: Ergs are huge, so instead of a nadir-facing view at 35,000 feet, this image of the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado is a south-facing perspective at 35,000 feet.]

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open this example in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

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Alluvial Fan - Fan-shaped sediment deposit at the base of a mountain. {read more}

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.