what the Nazca Lines are made of and why they haven’t eroded or blown away or gotten covered over time
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Geologist here.
In long-term arid environments, alluvial surfaces develop what is called ‘desert pavement’ over time. It is where eons of wind and occasional rain blow and wash all the light-colored silt and fine sand from the desert surface and leave behind only the dark-colored rocky cover (gravel and pebbles). When people disrupt that dark-colored rocky cover it exposes light-colored soil underneath. The Nazca lines are places where prehistoric peoples intentionally made lines and graphic features like the hummingbird, by moving the dark-colored surface rocks to expose the light-colored soil beneath. It took eons for that desert pavement to develop, so it will take eons for the disturbed pavement to re-establish that uniform dark color.
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