St.
Lucia Sand Dunes
Towering over the
wetlands and the St. Lucia beaches is the
second highest vegetated sand dune range in the
world. Over
shadowed by the dunes on Frazer Island, the St.
Lucia dunes were
formed over the past 25000 years.
The Highest point is Mapelane in the South at 183m with
an
average height of 172m up to Sodwana and declining
towards
Mozambique.
Apart from the Lake system, the dunes are the largest
catchments
area for the wetlands system. Warm moist air is
forced up against
the dunes from the ocean side and forms clouds
above the dunes.
The rain falls onto the dunes and some of the water
percolates
back into the ocean and some into the wetlands
system.
The dunes are an ever changing system. The wind blowing
the sea
sand up the dunes and the rain water washing it
down the side of
the dunes giving the steep angle of the dune
face. This leads to
the dune range being very sensitive to soil
erosion. Once the
vegetation is removed the sand washes away rapidly
as well as
new vegetation that attempts to grow on this angle.
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