What would happen if sand dunes were destroyed?
Sand dunes are being destroyed by Man and the environment throughout the world, constantly. Some dunes are coastal, and these are destroyed by devegetation, by using as a resource, or by natural processes of extreme erosion (e.g. severe storms). Inland dunes in arid areas are destroyed mainly through the same processes. Devegetation by overgrazing animals or severe drought, and destruction by strong or prevailing winds over time are the main causes. Dunes will only reform if there is a plentiful source of sand to replenish them. If the source is inadequate then sand sheets form, not dunes. They will only reform if the winds are constant enough to shift the sand. Many modern dunes, and fossil dunes from previous ice ages have never reformed after being destroyed by natural or man made processes. However, there are also many dunes which do reform because the sand supply has not been blown, washed or carted away, and because there are winds capable of reforming dunes. If dunes are destroy
