Inland dunes

Inland dunes

Rare, localised inland dunes have sometimes formed in New Zealand – mainly on the South Island’s river terraces and plains, where rivers draining glaciers had left fine sand. When botanist Leonard Cockayne reported on sand dunes for the New Zealand government in 1909, he found dunes or drifting sands in Central Otago, at Alexandra, Clyde, Cromwell and Tarras. He took this photograph of a barchan (crescent-shaped) dune at Alexandra, and noted that there was a good supply of sand, as gold dredging on the Clutha River had denuded the landscape.