Is it a Desert or a Dune?

 One of the interesting sights in Yukon is the Carcross Desert.  

OK that’s the name, but it isn’t actually a desert, rather a series of dunes.  A DUNE is a ridge of sand created by the wind, found in deserts or near lakes and oceans.  A DESERT is an area that gets little precipitation, generally less than 10” per year.  Currently, 1/5 of the earth’s land mass is covered by desert.  

The area around Carcross is in a rain shadow and gets an average of 20 inches of rain/year, but that is still too much precipitation for the definition of a desert. 

The entire area used to be a lake and the sand is blown from nearby Bennet Lake (that the prospectors sailed/boated up).