Grand Canyon Dune Atlas

These data were compiled to show where significant river-sourced aeolian sediment deposits are present along the Colorado River downstream of Glen Canyon Dam in the Grand Canyon from Lee’s Ferry to the Diamond Creek confluence located 225 miles downstream. These deposits represent 118 active aeolian dunefields and were created by the Grand Canyon Monitoring & Research Center using field data and 20-cm pixel resolution, four spectral band imagery collected in 2013 (Durning and others, 2016) and validated using field observations and oblique photography. River-sourced sediment associated with these dunfields were excluded that were within the modeled inundation extent during a 1,274 m3/s (45,000 ft3/s) river flow scenario, representing the contemporary maximum controlled river flood release from Glen Canyon Dam. Dunefields are termed source-bordering aeolian dunefields and are comprised of wind deposited, river-sourced sand.