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Dune Formations in Oklahoma
Teacher Guide
This activity is meant to supplement earth
science lessons on forces of erosion. Students
will compare aerial photographs of dune fields in
two different years and answer questions about
the changes. Students follow-up by identifying
similar areas in the state using a geology-based
GIS theme.
Overview
Standards
Grade 8 Standards
P1.2, P1.3, P5.2, P5.4
Oklahoma PASS Objectives
High School Physical Science Standards
P1.2, P1.3, P2.1, P5.2
Science Content Standards
National Science Education Standards
Content Standard A Scientific Inquiry Content
Standard D Earths history
Middle School. Can be modified with additional
questions for higher levels.
Grade Level
Intermediate. Some prior knowledge of ArcView
tools is assumed.
GIS Skill Level
Students should have some experience with aerial
photo interpretation as well as a basic
understanding of the distribution of land forms.
Other Skills
Should be completed in one 50-minute class.
Time
This activity can be modified for features in
other areas of the country if alternative data
sources are available.
Teacher Note
Dune Formation in Oklahoma
Teacher Guide 1
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Dune Formations in Oklahoma
Teacher Guide
Materials
This activity relies on several GIS datasets that
are not available in the ESRIDATA directory from
a standard installation of ArcView. The files
and the designed directories are listed below
C\esri\projects\2003 aerials\woods
C\esri\projects\dunes
naip1-1_ok151_2003.sid
county.shp okgeoldd_p.shp owrbrivers.shp
naip1-1_ok151_2003.aux
naip1-1_ok151_2003.sdw
Note Shapefiles (.shp) require additional
reference files (.shx, .dbf, .prj) not listed
above.
C\esri\projects\dunes\1995doqq
306098e.84.sid
Sources

• Geo Information Systems - www.geo.ou.edu
• Image Data DOQQ ID 306098-E84 Vector Data
  County Bndry, OWRB Rivers
• Oklahoma Center for Geospatial Information -
  www2.ocgi.okstate.edu
• Woods County 2003 Aerial Photo
• USGS Publications Warehouse - pubs.usgs.gov
• Oklahoma Surface Geology (from Digital Geologic
  Map Database for Oklahoma)

Lesson Preparation
This project is a simple, one Data Frame Arc View
9.1 project consisting of five themes. An
additional theme can be created to outline the
three (3) areas of interest within Little Sahara
State Park. Because of the aerial photographs,
the projection must be set to UTM Zone 14 and all
themes must be aligned accordingly. This
project guide assumes a project parent directory
of C\ESRI\Projects\ and directions are given
with that directory in mind if the directory is
changed locally, it is important to remember to
change the text in this document.
Developed by Steve OConnell geographilia_at_hotmail.
com
Dune Formation in Oklahoma
Teacher Guide 2
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Dune Formations in Oklahoma
Erosion can take many forms in the environment.
You can see evidence around you every day. Here
in Oklahoma there are many places where sand
dunes have been and continue to be a major part
of the landscape. Dunes are often associated
with beaches and oceans, but they can form
anywhere sand and wind are located in abundance.
In this activity, you will look at existing dune
formations in Oklahoma, particularly in the area
near Little Sahara State Park in Woods County.
The recreational use of the Little Sahara dunes
has created a unique pattern of erosion. You
will learn about some of the factors involved in
the development of these patterns and about other
similar areas in Oklahoma.
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Step 1
Getting Started
To begin, open ArcView GIS 9.1 by selecting the
icon on your desktop.
At the Welcome menu, select the An existing
map option and click the Browse for maps
choice.
Navigate to the following directory c\esri\proj
ects\Dunes
Open the dunes.mxd file.
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Step 2
Area of Interest
Once inside the project, you will see a Data
Frame titled Oklahoma Dunes. Little Sahara
State Park is in Woods County. Use the Identify
tool to find Woods County and zoom to it. Once
you have gotten to Woods County, turn on the
2003 DOQs layer. This is the color airphoto
mosaic for the county. Little Sahara State Park
in the southern portion of the county, just north
of the Cimarron River.
Little Sahara State Park
Zoom into the area with the dunes, shown in the
box above. Turn on the 1995 DOQQ layer. The
1995 black and white photo should appear on top
of the color 2003 photo.
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Step 3
Examining Change in the Landscape
By turning on and off the black and white 1995
photo, you can see the places where there have
been changes in the last 10 years.
Look at the changes in the numbered locations on
the map above to answer the questions on the
following page.
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Step 3
Examining Change in the Landscape (cont.)
Looking at Area 1
1. Is there any change in the boundary of
the dune field from 1995 to 2003? YES
2. In what general direction do the dunes
appear to be migrating? (Hint Look at the
patterns within the dune field, too.)
NORTH or NORTHEAST
In Area 2, a web of trails crisscrosses the dune
field
3. What do you think is the cause of the
trail pattern? HUMAN USE/DUNE BUGGIES
4. How is the dune field changing in places
with trails? LESS VEGETATION/MORE SAND/ACTIVE
DUNES
For Area 3, look at the vertical line that runs
through both photos
5. Why does the area to the east of the
line look darker than the area to the
west? MORE VEGETATION/NO DUNE BUGGIES
6. What is present in the park that might
create the line that you see? FENCE
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Step 4
Active and Stabilized Dunes
You have seen from the examples at Little Sahara
SP that both nature and humans can alter the
landscape. Much of the dune field inside the
park is considered active the dunes are still
moving.
Zoom out from Little Sahara so you can see the
park and part of the surrounding area at least
enough so you can see the nearby Cimarron River.
The area around the park is full of dunes but
most are now covered in vegetation. These dunes
are known as stabilized, or inactive the
vegetation helps to keep them from moving.
7. What evidence of these stabilized
dunes do you see on the photos? SOME
EXPOSED SAND/DUNE-LIKE RIPPLES
Step 5
Distribution of Dunes in Oklahoma
This area of Woods County is not the only place
in Oklahoma where dunes can be found. To find
similar areas, you can use the query function in
ArcView. Turn on the Surface Formation layer in
your view. Pull up the information on the
Surface Formation that Little Sahara is in.
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Step 5
Distributions of Dunes in Oklahoma (cont.)
Look at the information on the formation around
Little Sahara State Park and answer the following
8. What is the name for this
formation? TERRACE DEPOSITS 9.
What is the formation number associated with this
type of feature? 165
You can query similar features of the Surface
Formation layer by using the Select by
Attribute option under the Selection Menu.
Once inside the Select By Attributes dialog box,
you need to create the query. Select the
appropriate layer from the top dropdown menu
double click the field to query on (the formation
number), click the operator for the calculation
( for this case), and type the number for the
formation (your answer for 10). Your full
equation will appear in the bottom box. Click
OK when finished.
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Step 5
Distributions of Dunes in Oklahoma (cont.)
Zoom so you can see the entire selection. (Hint
Use the Zoom to Selected Features option under
the Selection Menu.)
To practice some ArcView skills, you should
create a new layer showing only this selection of
features. Right-click on the Surface Formation
layer and select Data gt Export Data .
You want to export the Selected features using
the same coordinate system as the Surface
Formation layer. Save the new shapefile in the
project directory (C\ESRI\Projects\Dunes) and
name it surface_abc.shp where abc represents
your own initials.
Turn off the Surface Formation theme and turn on
the new theme you just created. Change the color
of the theme to a shade of yellow. Turn on the
Major Rivers theme.
10. What is the general relationship
between dune formations and major rivers in
Oklahoma? GENERALLY TO THE NORTH OF MAJOR
RIVERS 11. What are some possible
reasons for this relationship? SEVERAL
EXPLANATIONS BUT KEYS - RIVERS CARRY DEPOSIT
LOTS OF SAND, WIND CARRIES SAND FROM RIVER BED
INTO DUNES - RIVERS DEPOSIT SAND AND
MIGRATE/MEANDER SOUTH, LEAVING BEHIND DUNES
12. If someone were to ask you what kind of
features might be located along the North
Canadian River in Harper County, what would your
answer be? Explain. DUNES. THE AREA AROUND THE
N. CANADIAN RIVER IS PART OF THE SAME FORMATION
AS IS NEAR LITTLE SAHARA STATE PARK.
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PART TWO
Exploring More Dune Patterns
Now that youve seen some dunes in Oklahoma, you
can hopefully recognize similar features around
the country and the globe.
In this section of the activity you will be using
the internet-based GIS program, Google Earth. If
you are not familiar with Google Earth, use the
brief introduction below to help you get
oriented. Once you are comfortable using the
interface, move on to the questions on the
following pages.
Open Google Earth by clicking the icon on the
desktop. If there is no icon on the desktop, the
program can be accessed through the Start All
Programs Menu.
The left panel of Google Earth provides a number
of navigation options. Use the Fly To option
to zoom straight to a location. Directions
will show you the route from one place to
another. Below the navigation area you will see
a list of possible layers. Use the check boxes
to turn them on/off.
Though you can navigate on the map using the
mouse buttons, an alternative navigation toolbar
is provided on the bottom of the screen. This
can be turned on or off from the Tools Menu.
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Step 1
Patterns of Stabilized Dune Activity
In the first part of this activity you saw the
differences between active dunes in Little Sahara
State Park and the inactive (or stabilized) dunes
outside of the park.
Now you will look at some similar features from a
large region of stabilized dunes.
In Google Earth, navigate to 42 Degrees North,
102 Degrees West. (There are several ways to get
to that point use the location readout on the
navigation panel to make sure you are at the
correct location.)
1. What state are the features you see
in? NEBRASKA 2. What is the general
orientation of the dune field (what compass
directions do the ridges follow? EAST-WEST
3. What is the name for this region? (Hint Use
www.wikipedia.org and find the article on the
state you are looking at.) SAND HILLS 4.
What nearby features could have an influence on
the formation of these dunes? (Think back to the
Little Sahara example and find something
similar.) RIVERS NORTH PLATTE, NIOBRARA, LOUP
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Step 2
Dunes in the Mountains
Youve now seen an example of a large area of
stabilized dunes. There are places which have
good examples of active dune fields. Though most
are in deserts, some are a result of unique
topographic situations.
You will now look at some active dunes that are
produced because of a combination of local
topography and climate.
In Google Earth, find the dune field located 17
miles northeast of Mosca, Colorado.
5. What is the name of the park that these
dunes are a part of? GREAT SAND DUNES
6. What is the name of the mountain range
located east of the dunes? (Hint Again, try
wikipedia.org and search for the name of the
park you just identified.) SANGRE de CRISTO
These mountains block the sand from moving
further east. The dunes are perpetually fed by
the recycling of sand from the streams that flow
from the mountain and into the valley to the west.
7. What river flows through the valley and
provides the sand deposits for the dune
field? RIO GRANDE 8. You should notice
that the valley is filled with numerous circles.
What are these and why are they located only in
the valley? IRRIGATION FOR CROPS WATER IS
AVAILABLE THERE
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Step 3
Dunes on the Coastline
Sand dunes are common features on many coastlines
around the world. The wind and wave action that
are constants at the coast help to make coastal
dunes extremely dynamic.
You will now look at some coastal dune formations
on the east coast of the United States.
In Google Earth, zoom to Cape Hatteras, North
Carolina.
9. What is the main orientation (direction)
of the dunes in the triangular area of the Cape?
What clues in the image help you to identify
this? NORTHEAST-SOUTHWEST 10. What
is the name of the coastal landscape feature that
Cape Hatteras (and the rest of the Outer Banks)
represent? (Use Wikipedia) BARRIER ISLAND
11. What side of the island has most of the
human-built landscape? What reasons might
explain that choice? NORTH (AWAY FROM THE
OCEAN) LESS CHANCE OF DESTRUCTION BY OCEAN
ACTION 12. Use Google Earth to locate
similar features along the eastern United
States. How many states have some type of
coastal islands? TEN (MA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA,
SC, GA, FL)
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Step 4
Searching for Dunes Around the Globe
Many other areas around the planet contain
dune-like formations. As can be seen from the
examples in the United States, they can be the
result of a number of different climatic and
topographic variables.
Use Google Earth to find examples of dune
features on at least two continents other than
North America.
Site 1
13. What country did you find dunes in?
14. What is the name of the feature(s)
that you have located?
Site 2
15. What country did you find dunes in?
16. What is the name of the feature(s) that you
have located? ANSWERS WILL VARY FOR ABOVE
QUESTIONS
Dune Formation in Oklahoma
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