Barry, I don't know much about Indiana Dunes. It is my understanding that it is essentially a prairie type ecosystem there without trees. There may be buried forest there. I don't know.
The Desert of Maine is a glacial outwash deposit. It does have some trees at least partially buried around its edges. It has been a long time since I visited it. hey are planting trees in some areas around the edge of the Sahara Desert trying to stabilize the dunes. Overgrazing in the dry climate has made the desert move and enlarge over the last couple thousand years. Wikipedia reports: "It has been reported that the Sahara is expanding south by as much as 30 miles (48 km) per year, overwhelming degraded grasslands, taking over the Sahel, the dry tropical savanna that has defined the Sahara's southern limit. Global warming and poor farming methods have been given as possible causes The spreading of deserts is known as "desertification," and the phenomenon is occurring in other desert areas worldwide." The dune fields along the coasts of the oceans and big lakes are generally very dynamic. Where they are stable for awhile forests will grow, then at some point the dunes will move again and bury the trees. A NPS document on Pictured Rocks NL comments: "That habitats and disturbance regimes on the Grand Sable Dunes plateau have changed drastically in the past is witnessed by the presence of "ghost forests" of apparent various age within the dune field and charcoal fragments associated with several ancient soils. Studies of fire history, rare plant distribution, soils, forest ecology and geomorphology of the dune field and northern hardwood and conifer forests surrounding it suggest that many drivers of landscape dynamism interact in the dunes. This complex interaction produces distinctive patterns of community types, species richness, and patch turnover within a relatively small area." Edward Frank "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science." - Albert Einstein --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
