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Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years
![dunes and desert vegetation](/news/mmg/media/images/sand-dunes-gallery2-f_3d902bf0-d91c-49a2-887e-ba1ef1f50986.jpg)
In Africa's Kalahari desert, red sand dunes stretch as far as the eye can see--and beyond. Kalahari dunes, asleep for more than 10,000 years, have awakened: They're moving across the landscape. Scientists are tracking the dunes to find out why.
Credit: Paolo D'Odorico
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![Red sand dunes in Africa's Kalahari Desert.](/news/mmg/media/images/P1060495_f.jpg)
Red sand dunes stretch as far as the eye can see--and beyond--in Africa's Kalahari Desert.
Credit: Paolo D'Odorico
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![greens in the rainy season in kalahari](/news/mmg/media/images/p1040854_f_25abbda0-d986-472d-906f-2136ecd5430f.jpg)
Tswana natives called the Kalahari "the great thirst." But it greens up in the rainy season.
Credit: Paolo D'Odorico
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![dunes and desert grass](/news/mmg/media/images/P10602911_f.jpg)
Without grasses to anchor the dunes in place, their sand grains blow in the wind.
Credit: Paolo D'Odorico
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![fenced research area in Kalahari](/news/mmg/media/images/DSC06334_f.jpg)
Scientists collect sediments for their research on the Kalahari's shifting sands.
Credit: Paolo D'Odorico
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![Plants used to hold dunes in place](/news/mmg/media/images/DSC02094_f.jpg)
Plant life stabilizes the dunes, holding them in place as "fixed vegetated linear dunes."
Credit: Paolo D'Odorico
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