Athabasca Sand Dunes 

Dune Features

The effects of the constantly moving sand can be seen throughout the dune fields. In some places, leading edges of dunes slowly smother trees on the forest edge, while in others, the wind has exhumed ghostly stands of dried trees that were buried hundreds of years ago by the blowing sand. Commonly seen are blowouts where sand has been blown away form clumps of trees leaving their roots in a mound, protecting the sand mound from erosion. Exposed tree roots sometimes stand a metre in the air, undermined when the supporting sand was blown away.

In many of the dune fields, there are large flat areas the loose sand, creating a somewhat firm carpet of stone and sand. This process, called deflation, leaves a "desert pavement" where stones form the surface cover. Often these stones have a shiny appearance from being continually polished by wind and blowing sand. Some of the stones have been eroded into particular shapes by the abrasion of the wind and sand. These pieces of rock are called ventifacts, Latin for "wind" and "made". Ventifacts can have many sides, some with three sides are called Dreikanters. It takes many years to form these unique and fragile geological features. Park visitors are asked to avoid walking over the desert pavement and to leave the stones in place.