-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
DASHT-E LUT ▪ IRAN
Aloft in a wilderness of blowing sand, Alain Arnoux pilots his motorized paraglider in tricky winds along a massive dune in Iran's vast Lut Desert. Frenchman Arnoux, a champion flier, has assisted photographer George Steinmetz on more than a dozen aerial expeditions to document the shape-shifting beauty of the world's arid zones.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
RUB AL KHALI ▪ SAUDI ARABIA
Young dunes flow like calligraphy in the Rub al Khali, Arabic for Empty Quarter. Towering above them, a star dune, because of its size, will likely hold its spot for decades.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
PACIFIC COAST ▪ PERU
Strong southerly winds fashion a chain of dunes on a remote beach in central Peru. Ocean waves supply huge amounts of the dune-building sand.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
BADAIN JARAN ▪ CHINA
Improbable jewel-bright lakes nestle among thousand-foot-high star dunes in a desert where Mongolian goat and sheep herders live. They depend on the springs that feed these salt lakes.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
PACIFIC COAST ▪ PERU
Barchan
“Barchan” is Turkic for a crescent-shaped dune—found on the edge of sand seas and formed when the wind blows steadily from one direction. -
Photograph by George Steinmetz
SAHARA ▪ CHAD
Seif
Elongated, sharp-crested seifs, named after the Arabic word for sword, take shape in regions with moderate sand and shifting winds. -
Photograph by George Steinmetz
RUB AL KHALI ▪ SAUDI ARABIA
Star Dune
Seasonally changing winds create multiarmed, pyramid-shaped dunes. Building up more than out, they can rise to over a thousand feet. -
Photograph by George Steinmetz
WADI HAZAR ▪ YEMEN
Giant dunes appear to be crumbling into pieces, a puzzling phenomenon in the region's Empty Quarter. A change in wind patterns may explain the desert redesign.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
SAHARA ▪ ALGERIA
Villagers in an oasis near Timimoun erect fences made of palm fronds to protect their gardens from the shifting sand, which settles near the fences as the wind blows.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
NAMIB DESERT ▪ NAMIBIA
Sand repossesses buildings in Kolmanskop, a diamond-mining town abandoned in the 1950s. The ruins sit near an active sand stream that may someday bury them.
-
Photograph by George Steinmetz
SAHARA ▪ MAURITANIA
Traveling an old caravan route, tourists on camels weave through a maze of dunes. Sandstorms regularly push dunes around, guaranteeing an ever changing view.
-
Buy NG Photos
Special Issues