Samalayuca Dune Fields
| Samalayuca Dune Field, Samalayuca Desert | |
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 View of Samalayuca dune field near Samalayuca, Chihuahua. | |
| Geography | |
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| Location | Municipality of Ciudad Juarez, State of Chihuahua, Mexico |
The Samalayuca Dunes, more traditionally known as Los Medanos are a series of large fields of sand dunes located in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The dune fields are scattered over a wide expanse of desert to the south, southwest and southeast of Ciudad Juarez. The dune fields are located in a 2000km2 area known as the Samalayuca Desert.[1] The Samalayuca Desert and its dune fields are part of the much larger Chihuahua Desert region.
The sand of the dunes are composed of almost pure silica oxide (SiO2).[1] They are white or tan in appearance. They are fine and move with the wind. The wind has formed the dunes by carrying sand until it became deposited and concentrated in natural land depressions. The action of the wind continues to constantly reshape the dunes. Some of the dunes near Samalayuca are tall and dramatically shaped and marked by the wind.
For centuries the sands of these dune fields were significant because they lay across the much traveled north-south route between Chihuahua City and "The Pass" at the border cities of Juarez/El Paso.[2] Before the era of the modern highway and the railroad, travel by foot, horse or oxen across this extended barrier of some 30 miles of loose sand was laborious and slow.
Today the dune fields are becoming known for their tourist and recreational potential, and as a habitat for the many unique endemic species of plants and animals living in a rare eosystem in the Samalayuca desert. The high silica content of the sands has also attracted industrial interest.
Origin of Name
The field and the desert gets its name from the town of Samalayuca, Chihuahua. The town is adjacent to the most visible part of the dune field that lies some 52 km directly south of Ciudad Juárez on Mexico Federal Highway 45.
Historical Name - Los Medanos
The sand dune area has traditionally been referred to as "Los Medanos" or simply, the dune fields. The name, Samalayuca Dune Fields, is of recent origin. The name "Los Medanos" is more commonly used[3] particularly in historical accounts.
The area of the Samalayuca dune field near Samalayuca, Chihuahua
The Samalayuca dune fields (aka Los Medanos) line east and west of Mexican Federal Highway 45 and the parallel Mexican Railway in an area 30 to 60 miles south of Juarez. This major north south highway and railroad, between Ciudad Juarez and the city of Chihuahua crosses through this dune area, and low dunes are visible for many kilometers on each side of the highway. The outstanding high dunes that exist close to Samalayuca may be seen in the distance from Federal Highway 45.[4]
Location of the dune fields in other area east and west of Samalayuca
The dune fields lie in several other areas of the Samalayuca desert to the southwest and southeast of Ciudad Juarez. A lesser known part of the dune field extends to the west from Samalayuca into the area southwest from Ciudad Juárez. These dune fields lie across the (now abandoned) right of way of the defunct Mexico North Western Railway (Compañía del Ferrocarril Nor-Oeste de México) and extending into the Chihuahua municipality of Ascension. Smaller dune fields also extends to the east from the town of Salamayuca, into the municipality of Guadalupe.
The Samalayuca Dune Fields (Los Medanos) in the History of the Chihuahua Trail (El Camino Rel de Tierra Adentro)
The Samalayuca Dune fields, more traditionally known as Los Medanos, lay directly across the route of the Chihuahua Trail, also known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The Chihuahua Trail went north from Chihuahua City to Sante Fe, in New Mexico. From the time Sante Fe was founded by the Spanish explorer Oñate, freight, stock and people moved up and down this route. The only major river on the trail was the Rio Grande. The trail crossed the river via a well-known ford near the famous pass between the Juarez and Franklin mountain ranges. This ford and pass came to be known simply as "the Pass" or "The Pass of the North", and became the site of the border cities of Juarez and El Paso.[2]
However, as the trail got about 60 miles south of The Pass, the trail encountered Los Medanos, or the Samalayuca dune fields. Oxen pulling two wheeled carts, horses and pedestrians could cross this sandy area only with great difficulty.
In 1598, Juan de Oñate, a wealthy Zacatecas nobleman set out northward from the Valle de San Bartolomé to establish a new northern colony, a "New" Mexico. When he reached Los Medanos, he attempted to cross but found the difficulty to great and detoured to the northwest to strike the Rio Grande down stream from the Pass of the North.[3] This set a precedent, and thereafter at the southern end of the sand dune fields of Los Medanos the trail branched.[2] One branch proceeded due north for some 60 miles, through the dunes then across desert brushlands, to The Pass. The other branch veered northeast for roughly 45 miles, across the dune field’s southeastern margin, to the south bank of the river, downstream from the ford and the pass.[2] This branch then followed the Rio Grande upstream some 35 miles to the site of the Pass of the North (El Passo Del Norte).
Today, the original trail (except for the branch which skirted the Samalayuca sand dunes) from Chihuahua to the Pass lies beneath or beside Mexico’s Federal Highway 45.[2] One incentive to continue on through the sands to Samalayuca was the springs that flowed in that area.[5]
Composition and creation of the dune fields
The white/tan sands of the sand dune fields are almost pure silica. On average, the sand contains 90-95% SiO2 and 5-10% mixed rock grains.[1]
The particle shapes are nodular and spheroid. they were form by airflow erosion of rocks that created small fragments that were then carried away by the wind, to be deposited in natural land dperessions.[1] Another factor assisting in the formation of the dunes is the abrupt changes of temperature that exist in the desert, which assisted in the breaking up of surface rock into sand grains.[1]
Endemic species in the dune fields
In large dune systems, many species of plants and animals evolve and adapt to the harsh environment, and thus become unique and endemic. The Samalayuca dunes are no exception. They provide the habitat for 248 vegetal and 154 animal species, most of them endemic.[4] The area is therefore biologically unique on a global scale. Most of the known endemic species in the Samalayuca Dunes are plants and various native bee species.
Industrial interest in the dune fields
The several million tons of sand in the Salamayuca dunes can be considered as an enormous potential of silica sand. Silica sand is widely used in what is called "the transforamation industry", for the making of class, silicates, paints, glass-ceramics and ceramics.[1] The sand of the Salamayuca dunes has attracted attention from the ceramic/glass industry but the desert sand contains sufficient impurities to pose problems with its use in industry, and a process to increase uniform purity to 97.5 SiO2 would have to be developed.[1]
Tourism interest in the dune fields near Samalayuca
The dramatic appearance of the dunes near Samalayuca, visible from Highway 45, has generated tourism interest in the dunes. This includes adventure tourism. Tourists hike in the dunes, ride over them in various vehicles, and slide down the dunes.
Government protection for some of the area
On June 5th of 2009, the Mexican federal government created a protected area of 63,182 hectares (631.82 km2, or 156,126.12 acres) in Samalayuca dune fields.[4]
Movie setting
The dunes were used to film many of the exterior shots in the 1984 movie Dune.[6][7] The Samalayuca Dunes were also used as a location for "Conan The Destroyer"[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Sanchez, Esparza-Ponce, Diaz, Saenz, Boone. "Use of Samalayuca Dune Sand on Glass and Ceramics Processes" (PDF). American Ceramics Society|accessdate=21 July 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Cite error: The named reference "Ceramics" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e Sharp, Jay W. "Desert Trails - The Chihuahua Trail". DesertUSA. Retrieved 21 July 2012. Cite error: The named reference "trail" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b Torok, George D. p. 5, at p. 9 "El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro through the Pass of the North, Part 1". Vol 5, Number 1, p. 5. Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association, and the El Paso Historical Society. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) Cite error: The named reference "Torok" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b c "Samalayca Dunes declared natural protected zone". Chihuahua Frontier. Retrieved 21 July 2012. Cite error: The named reference "Frontier" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Sayre, A.N. (1945). "Ground-Water Resources, El Paso Area, Tex". U.S. Departement of Interior. Water Supply Paper 919: 165, at page 16.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Dune, Behind the Scenes". Retrieved 21 July 2012.
- ^ "Samalayuca Dunes declared natural protected zone". Chihuahua Frontier. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
- ^ "Filiming Locations for Conan the Destroyer". IMDb. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
See Also
Samalayuca A Wikipedia page in Spanhish, use Translation