Kelso Dunes, also known as the Kelso Dune Field, is the largest field of
aeolian sand deposits in the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
. The region is protected by the
Mojave National Preserve
Mojave National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, USA, between Interstate 15 in California, Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31 ...
and is located near the town of
Baker
A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery.
History
Ancient history
Since grains ha ...
,
San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and the
Preserve Visitor Center. The
dune field
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
covers and includes migrating dunes,
vegetation-stabilized dunes,
sand sheets, and sand ramps. The tallest dunes rise up to above the surrounding terrain.
Geology
The dunes are composed predominantly of light-colored
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
and
feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...
, most likely
eroded
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust, and then sediment transport, tra ...
from the
granitics of the
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain â ...
to the southwest.
Magnetite
Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With the ...
and
amphibole
Amphibole () is a group of inosilicate minerals, forming prism or needlelike crystals, composed of double chain tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures. Its IMA symbol is A ...
can also be found, often accumulating at the dune crests.
Kelso Dunes represent part of a much larger sand transport system, which includes the nearby
Devils Playground region. The composition and morphology of the sand grains indicate that most originated from the
Mojave River
The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the time, ...
sink near
Afton Canyon, which lies to the west of the dunes' current location. The sand has accumulated at the southeastern end of the
Soda Lake-Kelso basin, where the
Granite Mountains and
Providence Mountains
The Providence Mountains are found in the eastern Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, U.S. The range reaches an elevation of at Edgar Peak and is home to the Mitchell Caverns Natural Preserve in the Providence Mountains State Re ...
form a barrier to prevailing winds. At present, only the area around the Mojave River sink and the westernmost parts of Devil's Playground are receiving new sand through this system; sand is no longer accumulating at Kelso Dunes itself.
Geography
The Kelso Dunes are composed of five stacked sets of dunes, each set corresponding to a period of climate change over the last 25,000 years. During dry climate episodes, a decrease in stabilizing vegetation exposed surface sand to wind
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
, which ultimately brought the sand to the dunes (most of the eastern part of the Kelso dunes was formed when nearby Soda Lake and Silver Lake dried into their current
playas). However, once the sand was emplaced, vegetation began to grow, locking much of it into place.
The Kelso Dunes are also notable for the phenomenon known as
singing sand
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
, or "booming dunes". Enthusiasts sometimes climb to the top of the dunes and slide down slowly, generating a low-frequency rumble that can be both felt and heard. This effect has also been noted at the
Eureka Dunes in California,
Sand Mountain in
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, and the Booming Dunes in the
Namib Desert
The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namib ...
of Africa. The booming is much more pronounced when the dunes are extremely dry.
Access
Kelso Dunes are closed to any vehicles, but are completely open to hikers. The trailhead is at the end of a three-mile (5 km) graded dirt road splitting from
Kelbaker Road
Kelbaker Road is a Road surface, paved road in San Bernardino County, California, that serves as the primary and busiest route through the Mojave National Preserve. It also connects the communities of Kelso, California, Kelso and Baker, Californi ...
. This road can be accessed from both
Interstate 15
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
(at Baker) and
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...
(east of
Barstow). The dunes themselves lie just southwest of the
Kelso ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
and the Park's Visitor Center located in the historic
Kelso Depot.
Endemic Species
Like many southern California dune systems, the Kelso dunes have a number of
endemic animal species. The list includes at least ten species of insects, such as the
Kelso giant sand treader cricket (''Macrobaenetes kelsoensis''), the
Kelso Jerusalem cricket (''Ammopelmatus kelsoensis''), ''
Rhaphiomidas tarsalis
The Mydidae, mydid fly genus ''Rhaphiomidas'' contains fewer than 30 species/subspecies, all of them occurring in the desert regions of the southwestern United States and adjacent portions of northwestern Mexico. The adults are most commonly encou ...
'' (a rare
Mydas fly
The Mydidae (sometimes misspelled as Mydaidae), or Mydas flies, are a cosmopolitan family of flies. It is a small family, with about 471 species described. They are generally large in size, including the largest known fly, '' Gauromydas heros'' ( ...
), and the
Kelso shieldback katydid (''Eremopedes kelsoensis'').
Although not strictly endemic, several plant and reptile species are rare outside of these dunes. One example is the
Mojave fringe-toed lizard (''Uma scoparia''), which is specialized in its ability to "swim" under sand.
See also
*
Kelso, California
Kelso is a ghost town and defunct railroad depot in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, California, USA. It was named after railroad worker John H. Kelso, whose name was placed into a hat along with two other workers to decide ...
*
Kelso Wash
*
Amboy Crater
Amboy Crater is a dormant cinder cone volcano that rises above a lava field in the eastern Mojave Desert of southern California, within Mojave Trails National Monument.
It is about equidistant from Barstow to the west and Needles to the e ...
References
External links
Official Mojave National Preserve website from
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
Afton Canyon Natural Area website
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Mojave National Preserve
Dunes of California
Mojave Desert
Protected areas of the Mojave Desert
Landforms of San Bernardino County, California
Protected areas of San Bernardino County, California