Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
The Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is located in Sand Valley of southern Utah near Kanab, UT and the Utah-Arizona Border. A break in the Vermillion Cliffs south of the park due to the offset of the Sevier Fault allows winds to accelerate through the gap between the Moquith and the Moccasin Mountains
[Gregory, 1950]
. The sand is derived from weathering of the Navajo, Page and Estrada Sandstones that are exposed across the Moccasin Terrace to the south. The prevailing winds are from the southwest in the summer and from the northeast in the winter resulting in southwest-northeast dune field alignment
[Gregory, 1950]
. The dunes remain active at the head of Sand Valley, but are stationary to the south at the base of the mesas where sand accumulates supporting the growth of Pinion and Juniper
[Wilkins and Ford, 2006]
. The sand is composed of primarily frosted quartz grains with small coatings of iron oxide, giving the dunes their characteristic salmon-pink color. At 6000 ft, the dunes cover an area of roughly 13.6 km2 with a maximum dune height of 10 m. 