Death Valley & Singing Sand

I spent the past week in Death Valley for my Marin Academy Minicourse, and I discovered something that connects the environment of the desert to my study of sound. I've decided to do some additional research and add write blog post about this topic in order to better understand a fascinating natural phenomenon and to commemorate my wonderful Minicourse experience.

The Eureka Valley Sand Dunes in Death Valley are an impressive range of towering sand dunes. What makes them even more interesting, however, is that a low, mysterious rumble can be heard when traversing the dunes and in the nearby area. Can the sand dunes be the source of this sound? It can be heard here:

The name of this phenomenon is called "singing sand." When a strong wind disrupts a sand dune, the sand particles roll down the side of the dune and vibrate. These vibrations create reverberations throughout the dry top layer of the sand in a dune, which amplifies the sound, producing the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes' characteristic "booming."

While research has been done on this topic, such as the research done by the Caltech engineers in the video above, there is still some uncertainty surrounding singing sand. Much debate exists surrounding the factors that determine the pitch of the sound produced by sand dunes. Three hypotheses are that the size of the sand particles, the depth of the top layer of sand, or the speed of displaced sand control the pitch of the sound.

It is exciting that more research is needed, and I look forward to reading about or even participating in future developments in our understanding of singing sand.

Works Cited:

Fischer, Shannon. "Singing Sand Dunes Explained." National Geographic. National Geographic 

     Society, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

United States. National Park Service. "Eureka Dunes." National Parks Service. U.S. Department        of the Interior, 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.