White Sands is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States.

At 1185 meters above sea level, there are approximately 442 square kilometers of dune fields and is known to be the world's largest surface deposit of gypsum.

[7] Gypsum is one of the most common mineral compounds found on Earth but is rarely seen on the surface, as it dissolves easily in water.

The Sacramento and San Andres Mountains, with the Tularosa Basin between them, took shape approximately 250 million years ago.

Giant upheavals in the Earth's crust distorted the land along with the gypsum deposits, forcing them high into the air about 70 million years ago.

[8] Rainfall and melt water came from the mountains causing the gypsum to percolate out and the concentrated solutions were washed down the mountainsides.

Water in the lake does not have any means of escaping except by evaporation, which leaves behind thin layers of crystallized gypsum, or selenite.

The winds carved more dunes and, while at the same time, carried small amounts of the gypsum grains by distances of up to 9 m (30 ft) a year.