White Sands National Park, the world’s largest gypsum dunefield

 This area is unique in that the dunes are made up of gypsum washed down from the nearby Andres Mountains, rather than a more typical quartzite sand, giving the dunes their pure white color. The dunefield was formed when an ancient sea retreated and caused the formation of selenite crystals, which were then broken up by winds and transported to create the dunes. The dunefield now covers over 275 square miles. The potentially oldest know human footprints in North America were found here and were dated to around 21-23,000 years old.

This area is unique in that the dunes are made up of gypsum washed down from the nearby Andres Mountains, rather than a more typical quartzite sand, giving the dunes their pure white color. The dunefield was formed when an ancient sea retreated and caused the formation of selenite crystals, which were then broken up by winds and transported to create the dunes. The dunefield now covers over 275 square miles. The potentially oldest known human footprints in North America were found here and were dated to around 21-23,000 years old.