A shuffling beetle at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2008. All Rights Reserved
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- Search LEARN NC for beetle, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, dunes, Kanab, sand, sand dune, sandstone, Utah, Utah State Park, and Venturi Effect.
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A beetle shuffles across the sand at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park near Kanab, Utah. He leaves a set of rippled footprints behind him. The sand is eroded from Navajo sandstone from the Middle Jurassic geologic period, and its hue is derived from the same iron oxides that color its parent rock.
The sand dunes are created by winds funneled through a notch between the Moquith and Moccasin Mountains that increases its velocity to the point that it can carry the grains eroding from the surrounding sandstone. This is known as the Venturi Effect. The wind’s velocity drops after passing through the notch, and it then deposits the sand, creating dunes in the valley.
The park is host to a variety of flora and fauna, included the Coral Pink tiger beetle, a species exclusive to the dunes.
