From the «created by aliens, obviously» department:
Feed: SoylentNews
Title: Hidden 'Star' Sand Dune Mystery Solved by Ancient Find
Author: janrinok
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:26:00 -0400
Link: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=24/03/10/1028246&from=rss

taylorvich[1] writes:

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-hidden-star-sand-dune-mystery.html[2]

Scientists have solved the mysterious absence of star-shaped dunes from
Earth's geological history for the first time, dating one back thousands of
years.

[...] Star dunes are massive sand dunes that owe their name to arms that
spread from a central peak. These sand pyramids, which look like stars when
viewed from above, are widespread in modern deserts including sand seas in
Africa, Arabia, China, and North America.

The research reveals the oldest parts of the base of the Moroccan dune are
13,000 years old. However, the discovery that it formed rapidly in the last
thousand years surprised scientists who had thought larger dunes were far
older.

Believed to be the tallest dunes on Earth—with one in the Badain Jaran Desert
in China reaching 300 meters high—star dunes are also found elsewhere in the
solar system, on Mars and on Saturn's moon Titan.

Despite being common today, star dunes have almost never been found in the
geological record. Their absence has bemused scientists as past deserts are a
common part of the history of Earth, preserved in rocks deep underground.

Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the new study dated the
foundations of a star dune in the southeast of Morocco known as Lala Lallia,
meaning "highest sacred point" in the Berber language, to about 13,000 years
old.

The dune sits in the Erg Chebbi area of the Sahara Desert close to the border
with Algeria, an area featured in TV series like SAS Rogue Heroes and
blockbuster films such as The Mummy and Sahara.

The research shows that the sand pyramid reached its current 100-meter height
and 700-meter width due to rapid growth in the past thousand years as it
shifted slowly to the west.

More information: C. S. Bristow et al, Structure and chronology of a star dune
at Erg Chebbi, Morocco, reveals why star dunes are rarely recognised in the rock
record, Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-53485-3[3]

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Original Submission[4]

Read more of this story[5] at SoylentNews.

Links:
[1]: https://soylentnews.org/~taylorvich/ (link)
[2]: https://phys.org/news/2024-03-hidden-star-sand-dune-mystery.html (link)
[3]: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53485-3 (link)
[4]: https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsubsubid=62225 (link)
[5]: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=24/03/10/1028246&from=rss (link)