Description

The America the Beautiful Quarters are a series of 25-cent pieces (quarters) issued by the United States Mint from 2010 until at least 2021.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has the tallest dunes in North America as the centerpiece of the site's diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra. The dunes were formed from sand and soil deposits of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, flowing through the San Luis Valley. Over the ages, glaciers feeding the river and the vast lake that existed upon the valley melted, and the waters evaporated. Westerly winds picked up sand particles from the lake and river flood plain. As the wind lost power before crossing the Sangre de Cristo Range, the sand was deposited on the east edge of the valley. This process continues, and the dunes are slowly growing.

Quarters are issued depicting designs of national parks and sites in the order of which that park or site was deemed a national site. Release date (national site date): August 25, 2014 (March 17, 1932).