gypsum

A runaway freighter full of gypsum rammed a steel bridge, but the cause was crew inattention, not mechanical like Baltimore.

"This data shows us that that's not the case, that during a very dry period in the past 10,000 years, we actually saw a lot of erosion and then the accumulation of gypsum sand. And as the climate was becoming cooler and wetter, then the salt began to accumulate."

Gypsum and carbonate strontium isotope ratio measurements were used to determine sources of water that carried the sediments to the salt flats.

Whether you’re cruising through dunes of white gypsum on a mountain bike in New Mexico or lounging poolside with an umbrella beverage next to a pink flamingo in Palm Springs, these vacations will leave you revived and ready to face part two of winter.

White Sands National Park, about an hour’s drive from Las Cruces and four hours from the capital, lets you wander 250-plus square miles of white gypsum sand dunes on foot or by bike — year-round.