Kelso Dunes
Kelso Dunes is one of the most remarkable dune fields in Mojave National Preserve, famous for the phenomenon known as singing or booming sand. When dry sand slides down a steep slope under the right conditions, it can produce a deep, low-pitched rumble that hikers can both hear and feel. The dunes rise more than 600 feet and form one of the best-known landscapes in the preserve.
The Kelso Dunes are only the most visible part of a much larger wind-shaped sand transport system that also includes the Devils Playground, sand sheets, and sand ramps. The dune field lies where prevailing winds drive sand toward the barrier formed by the Granite Mountains and the Providence Mountains, causing sediment to accumulate at the southeastern end of the basin.
For many years, geologists linked the dunes mainly to sediment carried by the Mojave River and later blown east and southeast from the Mojave River sink beyond Afton Canyon. That remains an important part of the story, but more recent USGS work shows the dune field has a more complex origin. Sands in the western dune groups closely match Mojave River alluvium and Budweiser Wash sources, while eastern dune groups also show significant input from sediments associated with the Providence Mountains.
Climate change also played a major role in shaping the Kelso Dunes. During the late Quaternary, changing moisture, lake levels, vegetation cover, and sediment supply controlled when dunes formed, stabilized, or became active again. USGS summaries indicate at least two major periods of dune emplacement between about 35,000 to 25,000 years ago and 15,000 to 10,000 years ago, followed by continued reworking during much of the last 4,000 years.
Most of the sand is made up of light-colored quartz and feldspar, but darker minerals also stand out on the dune crests. Magnetite and amphibole are especially noticeable, and earlier USGS work found that much of this darker heavy-mineral component was probably supplied locally from the Granite Mountains and southern Providence Mountains, then sorted and reworked by wind across the dune field.
