White Sand National desert

 White Sand National Park 

The blue sky is surrounded by  clouds above the wonderful white sand horizon that stretches to infinity. It is a majestic mountain range that stretches across the horizon where the white land meets the blue sky. Exposed to the intense sun, the shining Valuka plateau is undulating and devoid of vegetation. No living being can be seen.

If the blue sky is not mentioned, it can be doubted whether the above is a description of the surface of the moon. No, this is the Maheshakya Shweta Valuka desert found on the earth we live on. It was the place where the world's first atomic weapon was used to destroy the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

This magnificent plot of land is located in the Tularowsa Basin in the state of New Mexico, United States of America. Although the sand in other deserts is made up of silica, the sand in the White Waluka desert is made up of a mineral called gypsum (Calcium sulfate). Chalk sticks that you and I know well and Plaster of Paris used for plastering walls for carving are made from gypsum mineral. The mineral gypsum, like salt, is soluble in water. When the calcium sulfate dissolves in the water, it evaporates to form salt granules and pieces of gypsum.

The land receives its gypsum mineral from rain that dissolves calcium sulfate and from a reservoir called "Lucero" on the edge of the desert. The desert is located at the lowest point of the Tularawsa basin and is covered by a mountain ring on the other side of the desert. Therefore, when it rains in the desert, there is no way for the water to flow out. Therefore, the water collected in the basin seeps into the ground and is also subjected to evaporation from the strong sun. The result of this process is gypsum crystals that remain in the basin. Evaporation of the "Lucero" reservoir banks also creates significant volumes of gypsum crystals that are transported by wind to the desert terrain. This area is the largest gypsum deposit in the world (275 square miles). In the desert, there are many landforms made of gypsum sand, and the white sand dunes are the main ones.

Magnified White Walluka Katare gypsum sand grains

  The specialty of Shweta Waluka Katara is that you can walk barefoot on the sand even in the scorching afternoon. This is due to the extremely slow conversion of sunlight into heat in the gypsum mineral.

A few animals spend their lives on the edge of the Katora desert, which is devoid of vegetation and has intense solar heat. That is Bleached earless lizard, Apache pocket mouse. These animals are exclusively white in color, and the fluffy white desert terrain is excellent for protection from enemies. Also the following plants can be seen on the desert border: Yucca, Cottonwood.

The Lucero Reservoir, which supplies gypsum to the desert, and the Missile Test Range are shown here.

Finally, there is a historical experiment to be said here. The world's first nuclear weapons and bomb project was the Manhattan Project. Under it, the world's first nuclear test was conducted on 16.07.1945 in New Mexico, in the White Walluka Desert. Even today, part of the desert is a US military missile test site and is off-limits to the general public...