White Sands National Park

A park in New Mexico completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range, covering 145,762 acres of the Tularosa Basin and taking in the southern 41 per cent of a dunefield composed not of quartz but of gypsum crystals – the largest of its kind on Earth, about 30 feet deep with dunes as tall as 60 feet. Approximately 12,000 years ago this basin featured large lakes, streams, grasslands and Ice Age mammals. Warming and drying caused the lakes to evaporate and form selenite crystals; strong winds then broke the crystals up and transported them eastward into the dunes standing here now.