A flaming sunset, accompanied by the clouds of a departing thunderstorm, bathes the dunes of Nambung in Western Australia in a golden light of unique beauty. These dune fields, located on the coast line along the Indian Ocean, are composed of a very special sand that is already yellowish due to admixtures of iron oxides, which is why it begins to glow particularly intensely under the reflective light of a dramatic stormy sky.

This sand did not originate from the weathering of rocks, as is commonly the case. Furthermore, at only 12.000 years old, it is geologically young. It consists of finely crushed remains of sea shells, as well as coral and numerous other calcareous organisms that once lived in the warm waters of the adjacent Indian Ocean. The limestone, broken down by constant wave action, became sand and formed extensive beaches. These sands are mixed with quartz and feldspar, which are produced by the weathering of granite, the rock of the continents. This is also the source of the iron oxides that give the sand its color. The wind, which constantly blows inland, has piled it up into this impressive dune landscape. They are deposited on even older dune fields from the Pleistocene epoch, which are 500.000 years old and have already solidified into Tamala limestone.

The continental shelf sea off the coast is usually 40 kilometers wide (25 miles), up to 40 meters deep (130 feet), and has water temperatures between 25 and 29 degrees Celsius (77 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit) all year round. This warm water current, called Leeuwin, transports tropical and subtropical warm water from the north along the west coast of Australia to the south.

In this golden light, which connects the landscape and the sky, the individual dune ridges reveal the finest ribs and structures, shaped by the relentless force of the constantly blowing wind. Like an echo of the adjacent Indian Ocean, the dunes wander across the land. A silent reminder and dignified return of the countless fragments of once-living bodies in the form of sea shells, and corals in a sea of sand. What once lived in the depths returns here—a silent renaissance, lifted from transience.