14 DAY TRIAL // A group of investigators from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was recently able to confirm a number of information they had collected of dune migrations on Navajo Nation lands.
USGS geologist Dr. Margaret Hiza has been studying these migration patterns for decades. She explains that she conducted interviews with more than 70 elders in the community, asking them about how the dunes moved in the past.
The elders confirmed that some of the sand masses began forming as recently as the 1950s. They also indicated locations were water flowed when they were but children, but which are now altogether dry.
Roads, buildings and livestock are all threatened by dune mobility, which is why these investigations are so important. These accounts confirm what the USGS team has suspected for a long time, and namely that dune mobility is severely increasing.