====== Booming dunes ======

The 'Booming Dune' phenomenon (a.k.a. 'Singing Dunes') refers to loud, low frequency (70 - 105 Hz) sound sometimes generated by [[content:earth_sciences:sand_dunes|sand dunes]]

>Although many qualitative accounts of this booming phenomenon have been made, __there is no accepted scientific explanation yet for the underlying physics__. Furthermore, it is still unknown why only certain dunes boom and others with similar characteristics remain silent."\\ \\ Source : [[https://www.academia-net.org/profile/nathalie-maria-vriend/78470|Professor Nathalie Maria Vriend]],(independent researcher for the Royal Society) [[http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nmvriend/research/|Booming Sand Dunes]] [archived]\\

It seems likely to be related to the [[content:physics:general:squeaky_sand]]phenomenon - which is also unexplained.

For a sound recording, see [[http://www.sonicwonders.org/booming-sand-dunes/|this page]] this page of the //Sonic Tourism// website.

A description is provided in Uwe George's [[https://archive.org/details/indesertsofthise00geor/page/24/|In the Deserts of this Earth (1978)]], pp. 25-26: 

>Another strange feature of the sandy wastes that to this day has not been fully explained is an auditory phenomenon - a rarely heard booming. It has been described by the British geologist R. A. Bagnold, who encountered it while he was studying dunes in southwestern Egypt, 300 miles from the nearest habitation. "On two occasions it happened on a still night, suddenly - a vibrant booming so loud that i had to shout to be heard by my companion. Soon other sources, set going by the disturbance, joined their music to the first, with so close a note that a slow beat was clearly recognized. This weird chorus went on for more than five minutes continuously before silence returned and the ground ceased to tremble." Bagnold was never able to find a satisfactory explanation for the phenomenon.