D.U.S.T. (Desert Uplift Sediment Tower) is a 10' timber tower in a dry lakebed outside of Landers, California, constructed to highlight the geologic and meteorological forces that naturally occur in these settings. Specifically, the forces that exceed the threshold needed to pull loose particles from the surface and carry them aloft.
The station includes a windsock and a series of vertical louvers with interpretation for lost hikers, visitors to Giant Rock, and ultralight pilots stopping at the adjacent interplanetary airport.
The louvers climb one face of the tower in sequence, from base to top, with each slat corresponding to a different mode of sediment transport, from surface creep to full atmospheric suspension. Together they cover particle movement, local air quality, long range transport, and dust devils.
The Hi Desert has an intertwined relationship with experimental aviation. The lakebed outside Landers has always attracted people interested in what's above the ground. George Van Tassel ran an airstrip here in the 1940s, held UFO conventions, and spent two decades building a dome in which he received the designs from Venusians. The community of Landers was founded by a pilot who spotted a natural runway from the air. The Hi-Desert Ultralight Club still flies from the flat ground nearby. The same conditions that make it a good airstrip make it one of the most active dust-generating surfaces in North America.
