Depositional landforms Sand Dunes What is a Sand

Depositional landforms Sand Dunes

What is a Sand dune? Sand dunes are an accumulation of sand grains They are caused when sand is deposited around an obstacle like some drift wood or vegetation The sand is carried by the wind

What different types of a dune are there? There are several types of beach sand dune. An embryo dune A fore dune A yellow dune A grey dune A dune slack A mature dune

Embryo Dune These are very small dunes They would be built upon something small, like a stick They do not have very much vegetation on them

Fore Dune Just after the embryo dune there is a fore dune These would be built upon something larger, like a bit of drift wood

Yellow Dune These are bigger than the fore dunes They are called yellow dunes due to the amount of new yellow sand on them Some plants bigger than grass may start growing these

Grey Dune Grey Sand dunes are the second biggest type of sand dune There will almost always be grass and basic vegetation on these They will probably be made of white sand, hence the “grey”

Dune Slack These are low lying depressions in the sand Often close to or lower than the water level They contain water, this means more vegetation as there is more nutrients in the sand for more complex plants

Mature Dune These are the biggest type of dune They sometimes have more complex vegetation like trees and shrubs These are also the oldest and normally closest in land where the wind is weaker This means sand is deposited easier without blown off

Human uses They have many recreational uses They are used as wind defences They are used for sand mining and collection When they get bigger they are used for car rallies on “dune buggies” The bigger ones also attract tourism