Sands of Samar
Coordinates: 29°48′N 35°02′E / 29.80°N 35.04°E
The Sands of Samar (Hebrew: חולות סמר), also called the Samar sands or Samar sand dunes, are an expanse of sand dunes in the Arava region of southern Israel. Once encompassing an area of seven square kilometers, agricultural development and sand mining have reduced the sands to 2.3 square kilometers. In recent years environmentalists and local residents have campaigned to preserve what remains of the dunes.
The Sands of Samar are located near Kibbutz Samar in southern Israel, 30 kilometers north of Eilat. Once part of a larger network of dunes, zoning for date groves and other crops, as well as factory pollution and extensive sand mining to support construction projects in Eilat, have vastly reduced the presence of sand dunes in the area. Since Israel's 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, which placed neighboring dunes on the Jordanian side of the border, the Sands of Samar are the last remaining sand dunes on Israel's side of the Arava, constituting a unique and valuable habitat for desert-dwelling organisms. Of the seven square kilometers of dunes that once existed, 2.3 square kilometers remain today.
The Samar sand dunes were formed over thousands of years as grains of crumbled Nubian sandstone from the Timna valley were carried south and east toward the salt pan of Yotvata. Over time, eolian processes shaped the sands into stable dune formations.
...
Wikipedia