While on a journey through the Gobi desert in the 13th century, Marco Polo witnessed strange noises which he associated in his diary with evil spirits. This was the sound of the sand dunes.
Singing sand dunes is a natural phenomenon whose noise Marco Polo described as “at times fill the air with the sounds of all kinds of musical instruments, and also of drums and the clash of arms.” This phenomenon occur when the sand is sliding.
There are hundreds of thousands of sand dunes around the world. Not all sand dunes produce sounds, though. There are about 30 different locations around the world where you can here the song of the dunes. Some of them are: Kelso (California), Copiapo (Chile), Sand Mountain (Nevada), Tarfaya (Morocco), Kazakhstan, Qatar, etc. The sound always emanates from crescent shaped dunes, also known as barchans.
Play the video to hear the sound.
[flickr]http://flickr.com/photos/judocska/1057466801/[/flickr]
Singing dunes in Kazahstan
[flickr]http://flickr.com/photos/8617158@N03/2174806682/[/flickr]
People slide or jump to make the dunes sing
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