White Sands Desert of New Mexico

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The White Sands national monument of New Mexico, America, is pure white and differs from the sands of other deserts because it is made entirely of gypsum, a mineral which is pure white in colour. This sandy region is in reality a gypsum desert rather than a normal sandy desert.

The White Sands of New Mexico is located in the south-west part of America and is a protected area under American law. It covers an area of approximately 300 sq miles (780 square km). The desert was inaccessible for a long time because of the nearby San Andreas Mountains. The remoteness of the desert was such that the gypsum was not removed as in other parts of the world. Gypsum is used in plaster, plaster of Paris and plasterboard by the building trade.

The gypsum of this desert was originally washed away from the rocks of the nearby San Andreas Mountains and deposited on the bottom of Lake Lucero, which is now dry. When the water in the lake evaporated, the gypsum was then ground into finer grains by the elements, such as the Sun and wind. Large quantities of gypsum "sand" now exists as a desert and behave like ordinary sand. For example sand dunes have been recorded of over 100ft (30 meters) in height. The White Sands of New Mexico seem to be moving 20 feet (6 meters) north-east each year, blown by the prevailing winds.

A number of animals live in the White Sands and have adapted to their white surroundings such as the bleached earless lizard and the Apache pocket mouse. Their white colour gives them some protection from predators, such as eagles and hawks.

The White Sands of New Mexico is also famous because it is forty miles (or sixty-three kilometres) from where the first atomic bomb was exploded in 1945.

The White Sands of New Mexico is one of the world's truly unique deserts and a beautiful, natural phenomenon.