Window on Cherry Pie Lane

One learns to really appreciate texture when everything around is pure white. Here are some examples you find of texture at White Sands. The distance between the ripples is determined by the wind and is called the jump or leaping distance. This is also called saltation. We had a wonderful 90 year old Phd geologist along with us that kept us very educated. Another interesting fact about White Sands is that the dunes are gypsum and thus, very soft, so nonabrasive. A wonderful thing for photographers, as we don’t have to worry about gypsum sand scratching lenses. Gypsum has a hardness of 2 whereas, diamond has a hardness of 10. The Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley are made of quartz(7) and feldspar(6). The glass in our lenses is 5.5, so you can see why you have to be so careful in Death Valley, as the sand there can scratch a lens. You still would not want to change lenses in the field in White Sands, as who wants dust on a sensor?

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