White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USAi

Regional Level Types
White Sands National Park	National Monument
New Mexico	State
USA	Country

Large sand dunes composed of gypsum.
A National Monument created in 1933 that preserves a rare gypsum sand dune field in the Tularosa Basin known as the White Sands area. On Friday, December 20, 2019, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which includes a provision that re-designates White Sands National Monument as White Sands National Park, making it the 62nd designated national park in the National Park System. There are 275 total square miles of dune fields in the basin (the Earth's largest gypsum dune field), with 115 square miles (about 40%) in the Monument. The remainder is on military land (White Sands Missile Range); the western section of the Monument is shared with the Range and is called the "zone of co-operative use". It includes the Lake Lucero area, source of the dune field, which is not normally open to the public but can be visited on NPS ranger-led tours.

Though some dynamic areas move up to 30 feet per year, much of the dunes are largely static because, unlike quartz sand, rain dissolves a bit of the gypsum and redeposits it deeper in the dunes, partially cementing the sand grains. This also makes them easier to walk on. Because the gypsum is softer than quartz the dunes have a "softer" tactile feel than quartz dunes and they feel thermally cooler than quartz sand dunes.

Coordinates are for the visitor center.

Fossils

There are 1 fossil localities from the PaleoBioDB database within this region.

BETA TEST - These data are provided on an experimental basis and are taken from external databases. Mindat.org has no control currently over the accuracy of these data.

Occurrences	27
Youngest Fossil Listed	383 Ma (Middle Devonian)
Oldest Fossil Listed	388 Ma (Middle Devonian)
Stratigraphic Units	Unit No. Occurrences Age Onate 27 387.7 - 382.7 Ma (Devonian)
Fossils from Region	Click here to show the list.
Accepted Name Hierarchy Age Cystodictya genus Animalia : Bryozoa : Stenolaemata : Cystoporida : Cystodictyonidae : Cystodictya 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Hypothyridina genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Rhynchonellida : Hypothyridinidae : Hypothyridina 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Leiorhynchus genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Rhynchonellida : Leiorhynchidae : Leiorhynchus 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Platyterorhynchus genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Rhynchonellida : Leiorhynchidae : Platyterorhynchus 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Cyrtina genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Spiriferinida : Cyrtinidae : Cyrtina 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Echinocoelia genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Spiriferida : Ambocoeliidae : Echinocoelia 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Warrenella genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Spiriferida : Reticulariidae : Warrenella 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Desquamatia genus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Atrypida : Atrypidae : Desquamatia 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Strophomena (Strophodonta) subgenus Animalia : Brachiopoda : Strophomenata : Strophomenida : Strophodontidae : Strophomena (Strophodonta) 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Eldredgeops rana species Animalia : Arthropoda : Trilobita : Phacopida : Phacopidae : Eldredgeops : Eldredgeops rana 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Schizophoria lata species Animalia : Brachiopoda : Rhynchonellata : Orthida : Schizophoriidae : Schizophoria : Schizophoria lata 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Nervostrophia plana species Animalia : Brachiopoda : Strophomenata : Strophomenida : Leptostrophiidae : Nervostrophia : Nervostrophia plana 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Striatochonetes nanus species Animalia : Brachiopoda : Strophomenata : Productida : Chonetidae : Striatochonetes : Striatochonetes nanus 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian Rhyssochonetes johnsoni species Animalia : Brachiopoda : Strophomenata : Productida : Chonetidae : Rhyssochonetes : Rhyssochonetes johnsoni 387.7 - 382.7 Ma Devonian
Fossil Localities	Click to show 1 fossil locality

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_National_Monument
Wikidata ID:	Q1200164
GeoNames ID:	5497921

Localities in this Region

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