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Over the past 100 yr, several hypotheses have been proposed for the origin and age of the Great Sand Dunes. These hypotheses differ widely in the descriptions of dune morphometry, the immediate source of eolian sand, and when sand transport occurred. The primary purpose of this paper is to evaluate these hypotheses and, where warranted, to present new ideas about the origin and age of the Great Sand Dunes. To evaluate the previous hypotheses, we had to develop more detailed information about the surficial geology of the northern San Luis Valley. Thus, we mapped the surficial geology of an area extending several tens of kilometers north, south, and west of the Great Sand Dunes and examined subsurface stratigraphy...