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Beverly Shores in Porter County, Indiana — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
 

Recipe for a Sand Dune

From the kitchen of Mother Nature

 
 
Recipe for a Sand Dune Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 1, 2010
1. Recipe for a Sand Dune Marker
Inscription. 1. Dig a huge hole with a glacier. Use the ice to grind up millions of tons of rock and dirt and make ridges around the edge of the hole.

2. Fill the hole with glacial meltwater. Stir your brand new lake with strong prevailing northwest winds.

3. Find the grains of sand needed for your dunes that are mixed within the ridges. The challenge is to sort the sand from all the clay, pebbles, and rocks.

4. Use wind-whipped waves to erode the ridges and sort out the grains of sand. (The clay will settle to the bottom of the lake and the bigger rocks won’t move far.) The sand will be washed by waves and currents to the south and east parts of the lake.

5. Watch sandbars and beaches form at the water’s edge. Continue to use wind and waves to wash more sand to the beach and blow the “beached” sand inland.

6. Use marram grass, cottonwood and basswood trees to slow the wind so the sand grains are dropped. Watch the due rise higher and higher as the plants catch more sand.

Note: This recipe can be tricky since the amount of water depends on rain and snow. When the lake level rises the dunes may erode; when the level falls the dunes will grow. Either result is natural and beautiful. Don’t get your heart set on just one level. Give the recipe room to move and enjoy the changes
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you see. That’s the beauty of nature’s recipe.
 
Erected by National Park Service.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Natural Features.
 
Location. 41° 41.193′ N, 86° 59.752′ W. Marker is in Beverly Shores, Indiana, in Porter County. Marker can be reached from East Lake Front Drive west of Broadway Street, on the right when traveling west. Located in the Lake View unit of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Beverly Shores IN 46301, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Whose Home Is It? (here, next to this marker); Is This an Ocean or a Lake? (here, next to this marker); Stephen Tyng Mather (within shouting distance of this marker); The Armco-Ferro House: Mass Produced And Affordable (approx. 0.3 miles away); Century of Progress Homes (approx. 0.3 miles away); House Of Tomorrow: 'America's First Glass House' (approx. 0.3 miles away); A Showcase For Cypress (approx. 0.3 miles away); Century Of Progress Homes: Historic District (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Beverly Shores.
 
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore - Lake View image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 1, 2010
2. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore - Lake View
Sand Dune on Lake Michigan shore image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Don Morfe, July 1, 2010
3. Sand Dune on Lake Michigan shore
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on December 9, 2012, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. This page has been viewed 500 times since then and 10 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on December 9, 2012, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024