page_title: Dune
section_title: Conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Dune / Conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: Sand blowing on the Kelso Dunes, California.
context_page_description: A dune is a landform, and is a large mass of wind-blown sand. Dunes are most common in deserted environments, such as the Sahara, and also near beaches. An area with dunes is called a dune system. In physical geography, a dune is a hill of loose sand built by aeolian processes or the flow of water. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water. Dunes can be natural, but also man-made. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the stoss side, where the sand is pushed up the dune, and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee side. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack.
  An erg or sand sea is a large broad, flat area covered with wind-swept sand and/or dunes with little or no vegetation. Smaller areas are called dune fields.
  Dunes occur in some deserts, inland and along some coasts. Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach. In most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea.
context_section_description: Dune habitats provide niches for highly specialized plants and animals, including numerous rare species and some endangered species. Due to widespread human population expansion, dunes face destruction through land development and recreational usages, as well as alteration to prevent the encroachment of sand onto inhabited areas. Some countries, notably the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Sri Lanka have developed significant programs of dune protection through the use of sand dune stabilization. In the U.K., a Biodiversity Action Plan has been developed to assess dunes loss and to prevent future dunes destruction.
caption: Sand blowing off a crest in the Kelso Dunes of the Mojave Desert, California, USA
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