In a quest to unravel the mysteries of a massive star-shaped sand dune in Morocco, a team of researchers, including experts from Aberystwyth University, has made astonishing discoveries. Dubbed Lala Lallia, this colossal 100-meter high and 700-meter wide dune in the Erg Chebbi sand sea has captured scientists’ fascination.
The experts found that the base of the dune is ancient, dating back 13,000 years, stabilizing around 9,000 years ago, possibly due to a wetter climate supporting vegetation. The upper part, however, formed more recently, in the last 1,000 years, with the dune’s formation accelerating due to changing winds.
Professor Geoff Duller expressed amazement at these “extraordinary things” that act like “one of the natural wonders of the world.” Notably, the researchers uncovered that the star dune is slowly moving westward at about 50cm per year, driven by opposing winds.
To determine the dune’s age, the team employed luminescence dating techniques developed at Aberystwyth, analyzing when the sand grains were last exposed to sunlight. This is crucial information for infrastructure development, emphasizing the need to understand the dune’s movement for projects like roads and pipelines. The findings, shedding light on the age and formation of Morocco’s star dune, have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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