Front matter
Reading edition
U. S. Department of the Interior / U. S. Geological Survey
Deserts: Geology and Resources
by A. S. Walker
Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado (photograph by John Keith).
Beauty is before me And beauty behind me, Above and below me hovers the beautiful, I am surrounded by it, I am immersed in it. In my youth I am aware of it, And in old age I shall walk quietly The beautiful trail.
from a Navajo benedictory chant describing the desert
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Cacti dominate the Sonoran Desert vegetation near Tucson, Arizona (photograph by Peter Kresan).
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