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Great Sand Dunes in the morning
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Eolian Science
When we think about the processes that shape landscapes, we may
see water and its ability to carve deep canyons, deposit great plains
of sediment, or erode shorelines. We also may think of magma making
mountains or of earthquakes rocking our world.
Yet the wind also has the grand ability to shape the landscape.
Eolian science is where meteorology meets geology. Scientists who
study sand seas—such as the dunefields of Great Sand
Dunes—must understand how climate and ecosystems interact with
geology. Then they begin to get a glimpse into the meaning behind
these unmistakable masterpieces of natural art. And as researchers
are discovering in all their work, eolian science is just another
field of study in which the walls that divide the sciences are tumbling
down.
The knowledge gained from eolian science is even being applied
to a field of study that is out of this world! Astronomers and comparative
planetologists are using their dune system knowledge to understand
the landscape and even a bit about the weather on our planetary
neighbor—Mars.
Clue-coyote will take you on a comparative journey though eolian
landscapes on planet Earth and beyond.
 
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Go
with the Flow
