标签 沙丘 下的文章

沙丘中的南非剑羚，纳米比亚 Gemsbok (Oryx gazella) in sand dunes, Namibia (© Sergey Gorshkov/Alamy)

被沙海包围 Surrounded by a sea of sand

纳米比亚沙丘上的南非剑羚

“生命总会找到出路。”虽然《侏罗纪公园》中的马尔科姆博士是在谈论恐龙繁殖，但这句话也适用于生命如何在地球上最恶劣的环境中存活。极端生物是一种可以生活在极端环境下的生物，包括高温、低温或其他超出生命所能适应的条件。例如，在寒冷的北极地区，企鹅和北极熊可以生存；在炎热的沙漠中，骆驼可以不喝一滴水存活几个月；在高酸高温高压的海洋环境中，海洋微生物依然可以茁壮成长。

Gemsbok in Namibian sand dunes

To quote Jurassic Park's Dr. Malcolm: 'Life, uh, finds a way.' Animals and plants are found in some of Earth's most inhospitable places, from penguins and polar bears in the freezing Arctic to camels in scalding deserts. This lonely gemsbok, seen here in sand dunes in Namibia, is used to living in an inhospitable environment. Also known as the oryx, it is native to the arid regions of Southern Africa, especially around the Namib and Kalahari deserts. The gemsbok does not need to drink much water, instead finding hydration in the vegetation it grazes upon—including wild tsamma melons and cucumbers. When vegetation is sparse, they can dig deep to find roots and tubers to supplement their diet.

大沙丘国家公园和保护区，美国科罗拉多州 Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (© Y Paudel/Getty Images)

如沙漏中的沙子一般 Like sands through the hourglass

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Today we celebrate the birthday of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, which boasts 750-foot (and higher) sand dunes that cover more than 30 square miles. But the towering hills of sand—the tallest in North America—are just one feature of an eye-popping Colorado landscape that includes conifer forests, alpine lakes, and wetlands. The 85,000-acre park and preserve even encompasses stretches of tundra at the higher elevations, where it edges up against the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Initially proclaimed a national monument in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover, the territory was redesignated as Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve on September 13, 2004, and the size of the park was quadrupled. The park and preserve provide ample and wildly diverse activities for visitors, from sandboarding and sandsledding down the steep dunes to hiking, camping, horseback riding, and fat-tire biking.

大沙丘国家公园和保护区

今天，我们庆祝大沙丘国家公园和保护区（Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve）的生日，该保护区拥有750英尺（或更高）的沙丘，面积超过30平方英里。但北美最高的高耸沙山只是科罗拉多州令人瞠目的景观的一个特征，包括针叶林、高山湖泊和湿地。85000英亩的公园和保护区甚至包括高海拔地区的苔原，在那里，它与桑格雷德克里斯托山脉的底部相对。

1932年，赫伯特·胡佛总统首次宣布该地区为国家纪念碑，2004年9月13日，该地区被重新指定为大沙丘国家公园和保护区，公园面积增加了四倍。公园和保护区为游客提供了丰富多样的活动，从在陡峭的沙丘上划沙板和玩沙橇到徒步旅行、露营、骑马和骑自行车。

法国西南部阿卡雄湾的皮拉沙丘 The Dune of Pilat in Arcachon Bay, southwest France (© aluxum/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Against all odds

Whether you've been there or not, you will no doubt recognize the famous Dune of Pilat, stretching all the way across our image today. Located in the Gironde, at the entrance to the Arcachon basin, near the town of La Teste de Buche, the one known as the white lady has almost perfect measurements. At 106 meters high, 2.7 kilometers long, and 60 million cubic meters of sand, the Dune of Pilat is the highest dune in Europe. Belonging to the coastal dunes of Aquitaine, the Dune of Pilat is to date the only one of this system still in motion; each year, it moves 1 to 5 meters east, driven by winds and tides, gradually covering the adjoining maritime pine forest.

不择手段

无论你是否去过那里，你都会毫无疑问地认出著名的比拉特沙丘，它一直延伸到我们今天的形象。坐落在吉伦德，在阿卡松盆地的入口处，靠近拉斯特德布赫镇，一个被称为白女士有几乎完美的测量。皮拉特沙丘高106米，长2.7公里，沙量6000万立方米，是欧洲最高的沙丘。皮拉特沙丘属于阿基坦海岸沙丘，是迄今为止该系统中唯一仍在运动的沙丘；每年，它在风和潮汐的推动下向东移动1至5米，逐渐覆盖邻近的海洋松林。

以桑格雷－德克里斯托山为背景的沙丘，科罗拉多州大沙丘国家公园 Sand dunes with Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado (© Tim Fitzharris/Minden Pictures)

Super Sandy Sweet 16

We're in the Rockies of southern Colorado to celebrate Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve's 16th year as a full-fledged national park—though it was a national monument from 1932, and both the dunes themselves and the surrounding valley's history are far more ancient.

The dunes lie at the edge of the fertile, expansive San Luis Valley just east of the Rio Grande's headwaters and west of the Sangre de Cristo range shown here behind the dunes. Humans have lived around here for at least 11,000 years. But that's just a few grains in the hourglass for this sand field that formed when huge glacial lakes dried up, leaving sediments that were blown by wind against the mountains to slowly form the tallest sand dunes in North America.