SPECULATIONS ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ALGODONES DUNES, CALIFORNIA
The Algodones dune belt, which lies on the southeastern border of the Imperial Valley in southeastern California, represents a coastal dune system probably derived from the shore lines of fresh-water and marine inundations of the Cahuilla Basin. The estimation of the volume of sand in the dune belt is 380,000 million cubic feet. Assuming climatic conditions similar to those of today existed during formation of the dune belt, computations of wave regimen and resultant longshore currents showed that fresh-water and marine inundations of the basin aggregating a minimum of 160 thousand years would be required to provide and transport this volume of sand from the source areas to the present site of the dunes. Inundations of the Cahuilla Basin during part of the Pleistocene as well as the Recent are necessary for such a formation of the dune belt.