Wind Erosion
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Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...
activity in the study of
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
and
weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmos ...
and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
(or other
planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...
s). Winds may
erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the ...
, transport, and deposit materials and are effective agents in regions with sparse
vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characte ...
, a lack of soil moisture and a large supply of unconsolidated
sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...
s. Although water is a much more powerful eroding force than wind, aeolian processes are important in arid environments such as deserts. The term is derived from the name of the
Greek god The following is a list of gods, goddesses, and many other divine and semi-divine figures from ancient Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion. Immortals The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes. A temple would house the ...
Aeolus, the keeper of the winds.


Definition and setting

''Aeolian processes'' are those processes of
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
,
transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...
, and deposition of
sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...
s that are caused by wind at or near the surface of the earth. Sediment deposits produced by the action of wind and the
sedimentary structures Sedimentary structures include all kinds of features in sediments and sedimentary rocks, formed at the time of deposition. Sediments and sedimentary rocks are characterized by bedding, which occurs when layers of sediment, with different particl ...
characteristic of these deposits are also described as ''aeolian''. Aeolian processes are most important in areas where there is little or no vegetation. However, aeolian deposits are not restricted to arid climates. They are also seen along shorelines; along stream courses in semiarid climates; in areas of ample sand weathered from weakly cemented
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
outcrops; and in areas of glacial outwash. Loess, which is
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...
deposited by wind, is common in humid to subhumid climates. Much of North America and Europe are underlain by sand and loess of
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
age originating from glacial outwash. The lee (downwind) side of river valleys in semiarid regions are often blanketed with sand and sand dunes. Examples in North America include the Platte,
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
, and
Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
Rivers.


Wind erosion

Wind erodes the Earth's surface by ''deflation'' (the removal of loose, fine-grained particles by the
turbulent In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between ...
action of the wind) and by '' abrasion'' (the wearing down of surfaces by the grinding action and
sandblasting Sandblasting, sometimes known as abrasive blasting, is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface or remove s ...
by windborne particles). Once entrained in the wind, collisions between particles further break them down, a process called ''attrition''. Worldwide, erosion by water is more important than erosion by wind, but wind erosion is important in semiarid and arid regions. Wind erosion is increased by some human activities, such as the use of 4x4 vehicles.


Deflation

Deflation is the lifting and removal of loose material from the surface by wind turbulence. It takes place by three mechanisms: traction/surface creep, saltation, and suspension. Traction or surface creep is a process of larger grains sliding or rolling across the surface. Saltation refers to particles bouncing across the surface for short distances. Suspended particles are fully entrained in the wind, which carries them for long distances. Saltation likely accounts for 50–70 % of deflation, while suspension accounts for 30–40 % and surface creep accounts for 5–25 %. Regions which experience intense and sustained erosion are called deflation zones. Most aeolian deflation zones are composed of
desert pavement A desert pavement, also called reg (in the western Sahara), serir (eastern Sahara), gibber (in Australia), or saï (central Asia) is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cob ...
, a sheet-like surface of rock fragments that remains after wind and water have removed the fine particles. The rock mantle in desert pavements protects the underlying material from further deflation. Areas of desert pavement form the ''regs'' or stony deserts of the Sahara. These are further divided into rocky areas called ''
hamada A hamada ( ar, حمادة, ) is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard rocky plateaus, where most of the sand has been removed by deflation. The majority of the Sahara is in fact hamada. Other examples are Negev dese ...
s'' and areas of small rocks and gravel called ''serirs''. Desert pavement is extremely common in desert environments. Blowouts are hollows formed by wind deflation. Blowouts are generally small, but may be up to several kilometers in diameter. The smallest are mere dimples deep and in diameter. The largest include the blowout hollows of Mongolia, which can be across and deep. Big Hollow in
Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
, US, extends and is up to deep.


Abrasion

Abrasion (also sometimes called ''corrasion'') is the process of wind-driven grains knocking or wearing material off of landforms. It was once considered a major contributor to desert erosion, but by the mid-20th Century, it had come to be considered much less important. Wind can normally lift sand only a short distance, with most windborne sand remaining within of the surface and practically none normally being carried above . Many desert features once attributed to wind abrasion, including wind caves,
mushroom rock A mushroom rock, also called rock pedestal, or a pedestal rock, is a naturally occurring rock whose shape, as its name implies, resembles a mushroom. The rocks are deformed in a number of different ways: by erosion and weathering, glacial action ...
s, and the honeycomb weathering called tafoni, are now attributed to differential weathering, rainwash, deflation rather than abrasion, or other processes. '' Yardangs'' are one kind of desert feature that is widely attributed to wind abrasion. These are rock ridges, up to tens of meters high and kilometers long, that have been streamlined by desert winds. Yardangs characteristically show elongated furrows or grooves aligned with the prevailing wind. They form mostly in softer material such as silts. Abrasion produces polishing and pitting, grooving, shaping, and faceting of exposed surfaces. These are widespread in arid environments but geologically insignificant. Polished or faceted surfaces called '' ventifacts'' are rare, requiring abundant sand, powerful winds, and a lack of vegetation for their formation. In parts of Antarctica wind-blown snowflakes that are technically sediments have also caused abrasion of exposed rocks.


Attrition

Attrition is the wearing down by collisions of particles entrained in a moving fluid. It is effective at rounding sand grains and at giving them a distinctive ''frosted'' surface texture. Collisions between windborne particles is a major source of dust in the size range of 2-5 microns. Most of this is produced by the removal of a weathered
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
coating from the grains.


Transport

Wind dominates the transport of sand and finer sediments in arid environments. Wind transport is also important in
periglacial Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial", also referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing of snow in areas of permafrost, the runoff from which refreezes in ice wedges and o ...
areas, on river flood plains, and in coastal areas. Coastal winds transport significant amounts of siliciclastic and carbonate sediments inland, while wind storms and dust storms can carry clay and silt particles great distances. Wind transports much of the sediments deposited in deep ocean basins. In '' ergs'' (desert sand seas), wind is very effective at transporting grains of sand size and smaller. Particles are transported by winds through suspension, saltation (skipping or bouncing) and creeping (rolling or sliding) along the ground. The minimum wind velocity to initiate transport is called the ''fluid threshold'' or ''static threshold'' and is the wind velocity required to begin dislodging grains from the surface. Once transport is initiated, there is a cascade effect from grains tearing loose other grains, so that transport continues until the wind velocity drops below the ''dynamic threshold'' or ''impact threshold'', which is usually less than the fluid threshold. In other words, there is hysteresis in the wind transport system. Small particles may be held in the atmosphere in suspension. Turbulent air motion supports the weight of suspended particles and allows them to be transported for great distances. Wind is particularly effective at separating sediment grains under 0.05 mm in size from coarser grains as suspended particles. Saltation is downwind movement of particles in a series of jumps or skips. Saltation is most important for grains of up to 2 mm in size. A saltating grain may hit other grains that jump up to continue the saltation. The grain may also hit larger grains (over 2 mm in size) that are too heavy to hop, but that slowly creep forward as they are pushed by saltating grains. Surface creep accounts for as much as 25 percent of grain movement in a desert. Vegetation is effective at suppressing aeolian transport. Vegetation cover of as little as 15% is sufficient to eliminate most sand transport. The size of shore dunes is limited mostly by the amount of open space between vegetated areas. Aeolian transport from deserts plays an important role in ecosystems globally. For example, wind transports minerals from the Sahara to the Amazon basin. Saharan dust is also responsible for forming red clay soils in southern Europe.


Dust storms

Dust storms are wind storms that have entrained enough dust to reduce
visibility The visibility is the measure of the distance at which an object or light can be clearly discerned. In meteorology it depends on the transparency of the surrounding air and as such, it is unchanging no matter the ambient light level or time o ...
to less than . Most occur on the synoptic (regional) scale, due to strong winds along
weather fronts A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For ins ...
, or locally from
downburst In meteorology, a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially, that is, in straight lines in all directions from the area of impact at surface level. Capable of pro ...
s from thunderstorms. Crops, people, and possibly even
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
s are affected by dust storms. On Earth, dust can cross entire oceans, as occurs with dust from the Sahara that reaches the Amazon Basin. Dust storms on
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
periodically engulf the entire planet. When the Mariner 9 spacecraft entered its orbit around
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
in 1971, a dust storm lasting one month covered the entire planet, thus delaying the task of photo-mapping the planet's surface. Most of the dust carried by dust storms is in the form of
silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...
-size particles. Deposits of this windblown silt are known as loess. The thickest known deposit of loess, up to , is on the
Loess Plateau The Chinese Loess Plateau, or simply the Loess Plateau, is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounde ...
in China. This very same Asian dust is blown for thousands of miles, forming deep beds in places as far away as Hawaii. The Peoria Loess of North America is up to thick in parts of western
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
. The soils developed on loess are generally highly productive for agriculture. Small whirlwinds, called
dust devil A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively short-lived whirlwind. Its size ranges from small (half a metre wide and a few metres tall) to large (more than 10 m wide and more than 1 km tall). The primary vertical motion is u ...
s, are common in arid lands and are thought to be related to very intense local heating of the air that results in instabilities of the air mass. Dust devils may be as much as one kilometer high. Dust devils on Mars have been observed as high as , though this is uncommon.


Deposition

Wind is very effective at separating sand from silt and clay. As a result, there are distinct sandy (erg) and silty (loess) aeolian deposits, with only limited
interbedding In geology, interbedding occurs when beds (layers of rock) of a particular lithology lie between or alternate with beds of a different lithology. For example, sedimentary rocks may be interbedded if there were sea level variations in their sedimen ...
between the two. Loess deposits are found further from the original source of sediments than ergs. An example of this is the Sand Hills of
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, US. Here vegetation-stabilized sand dunes are found to the west and loess deposits to the east, further from the original sediment source in the Ogallala Formation at the feet of the Rocky Mountains. Some of the most significant experimental measurements on aeolian landforms were performed by
Ralph Alger Bagnold Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold, OBE, FRS, (3 April 1896 – 28 May 1990) was an English 20th-century desert explorer, geologist and soldier. In 1932, he staged the first recorded East-to-West crossing of the Libyan Desert. His work in the ...
, a British army engineer who worked in
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
prior to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Bagnold investigated the physics of particles moving through the atmosphere and deposited by wind. He recognized two basic dune types, the crescentic dune, which he called "
barchan A barchan or barkhan dune (from Kazakh бархан ) is a crescent-shaped dune. The term was introduced in 1881 by Russian naturalist Alexander von Middendorf, based on their occurrence in Turkestan and other inland desert regions. Barchans ...
", and the linear dune, which he called longitudinal or "seif" (Arabic for "sword"). Bagnold developed a classification scheme that included small-scale ripples and sand sheets as well as various types of dunes. Bagnold's classification is most applicable in areas devoid of vegetation. In 1941, John Tilton Hack added parabolic dunes, which are strongly influenced by vegetation, to the list of dune types. The discovery of dunes on Mars reinvigorated aeolian process research, which increasingly makes use of computer simulation. Wind-deposited materials hold clues to past as well as to present wind directions and intensities. These features help us understand the present climate and the forces that molded it. For example, vast inactive ergs in much of the modern world attest to late Pleistocene trade wind belts being much expanded during the Last Glacial Maximum. Ice cores show a tenfold increase in non-volcanic dust during glacial maxima. The highest dust peak in the Vostok ice cores dates to 20 to 21 thousand years ago. The abundant dust is attributed to a vigorous low-latitude wind system plus more exposed continental shelf due to low sea levels. Wind-deposited sand bodies occur as
ripples Ripple may refer to: Science and technology * Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid ** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves * Ripple (electri ...
and other small-scale features, sand sheets, and dunes.


Ripples and other small-scale features

Wind blowing on a sand surface
ripples Ripple may refer to: Science and technology * Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid ** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves * Ripple (electri ...
the surface into crests and troughs whose long axes are
perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...
to the wind direction. The average length of jumps during saltation corresponds to the
wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, t ...
, or distance between adjacent crests, of the ripples. In ripples, the coarsest materials collect at the crests causing
inverse grading In geology, a graded bed is one characterized by a systematic change in grain or clast size from one side of the bed to the other. Most commonly this takes the form of normal grading, with coarser sediments at the base, which grade upward into pr ...
. This distinguishes small ripples from dunes, where the coarsest materials are generally in the troughs. This is also a distinguishing feature between water laid ripples and aeolian ripples. A ''sand shadow'' is an accumulation of sand on the downwind side of an obstruction, such as a boulder or an isolated patch of vegetation. Here the sand builds up to the angle of repose (the maximum stable slope angle), about 34 degrees, then begins sliding down the ''slip face'' of the patch. A ''sandfall'' is a sand shadow of a cliff or escarpment. Closely related to sand shadows are ''sand drifts''. These form downwind of a gap between obstructions, due to the funneling effect of the obstructions on the wind.


Sand sheets

Sand sheets are flat or gently undulating sandy deposits with only small surface ripples. An example is the Selima Sand Sheet in the eastern Sahara Desert, which occupies in southern
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and northern Sudan. This consists of a few feet of sand resting on bedrock. Sand sheets are often remarkably flat and are sometimes described as ''desert peneplains''. Sand sheets are common in desert environments, particularly on the margins of dune fields, although they also occur within ergs. Conditions that favor the formation of sand sheets, instead of dunes, may include surface cementation, a high water table, the effects of vegetation, periodic flooding, or sediments rich in grains too coarse for effective saltation.


Dunes

A dune is an accumulations of sediment blown by the wind into a
mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...
or ridge. They differ from sand shadows or sand drifts in that they are independent of any topographic obstacle. Dunes have gentle upwind slopes on the
windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
side. The downwind portion of the dune, the lee slope, is commonly a steep
avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...
slope referred to as a slipface. Dunes may have more than one slipface. The minimum height of a slipface is about 30 centimeters. Wind-blown sand moves up the gentle upwind side of the dune by saltation or creep. Sand accumulates at the brink, the top of the slipface. When the buildup of sand at the brink exceeds the angle of repose, a small
avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...
of grains slides down the slipface. Grain by grain, the dune moves downwind. Dunes take three general forms. Linear dunes, also called longitudinal dunes or seifs, are aligned in the direction of the prevailing winds. Transverse dunes, which include crescent dunes (barchans), are aligned perpendicular to the prevailing winds. More complex dunes, such as star dunes, form where the directions of the winds are highly variable. Additional dune types arise from various kinds of topographic forcing, such as from isolated hills or escarpments.


Transverse dunes

Transverse dunes occur in areas dominated by a single direction of the prevailing wind. In areas where sand is not abundant, transverse dunes take the form of barchans or crescent dunes. These are not common, but they are highly recognizable, with a distinctive crescent shape with the tips of the crescent directed downwind. The dunes are widely separated by areas of bedrock or reg. Barchans migrate up to per year, with the taller dunes migrating faster. Barchans first form when some minor topographic feature creates a sand patch. This grows into a sand mound, and the converging streamlines of the air flow around the mound build it into the distinctive crescent shape. Growth is ultimately limited by the carrying capacity of the wind, which as the wind becomes saturated with sediments, builds up the slip face of the dune. Because barchans develop in areas of limited sand availability, they are poorly preserved in the geologic record. Where sand is more abundant, transverse dunes take the form of aklé dunes, such as those of the western Sahara. These form a network of sinuous ridges perpendicular to the wind direction. Aklé dunes are preserved in the geologic record as sandstone with large sets of
cross-bedding In geology, cross-bedding, also known as cross-stratification, is layering within a stratum and at an angle to the main bedding plane. The sedimentary structures which result are roughly horizontal units composed of inclined layers. The origina ...
and many reactivation surfaces. Draas are very large composite transverse dunes. They can be up to across and high and extend lengthwise for hundreds of kilometers. In form, they resemble a large aklé or barchanoid dune. They form over a prolonged period of time in areas of abundant sand and show a complex internal structure. Careful 3-D mapping is required to determine the morphology of a draa preserved in the geologic record.


Linear dunes

Linear dunes can be traced up to tens of kilometers, with heights sometimes in excess of . They are typically several hundred meters across and are spaced apart. They sometimes coalesce at a Y-junction with the fork directed upwind. They have a sharp sinuous or en echelon crest. They are thought to form from a bimodal seasonal wind pattern, with a weak wind season characterized by wind directed an at acute angle to the prevailing winds of the strong wind season. The strong wind season produces a barchan form and the weak wind season stretches this into the linear form. Another possibility is that these dunes result from
secondary flow In fluid dynamics, flow can be decomposed into primary plus secondary flow, a relatively weaker flow pattern superimposed on the stronger primary flow pattern. The primary flow is often chosen to be an exact solution to simplified or approximated ...
, though the precise mechanism remains uncertain.


Complex dunes

Complex dunes (star dunes or rhourd dunes) are characterized by having more than two slip faces. They are typically across and high. They consist of a central peak with radiating crests and are thought to form where strong winds can come from any direction. Those in
Gran Desierto de Altar The Gran Desierto de Altar is one of the major sub-ecoregions of the Sonoran Desert, located in the State of Sonora, in northwest Mexico. It includes the only active erg dune region in North America. The desert extends across much of the northern ...
of Mexico are thought to have formed from precursor linear dunes due to a change in the wind pattern about 3000 years ago. Complex dunes show Little lateral growth but strong vertical growth and are important sand sinks.


Other dune types

Vegetated parabolic dunes are crescent-shaped, but the ends of the crescent point upwind, not downwind. They form from the interaction of vegetation patches with active sand sources, such as blowouts. The vegetation stabilizes the arms of the dune, and an elongated lake sometimes forms between the arms of the dune. Clay dunes are uncommon but have been found in Africa, Australia, and along the Gulf Coast of North America. These form on mud flats on the margins of saline bodies of water subject to strong prevailing winds during a dry season. Clay particles are bound into sand-sized pellets by salts and are then deposited in the dunes, where the return of the cool season allows the pellets to absorb moisture and become bound to the dune surface.


Aeolian desert systems

Deserts A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
cover 20 to 25 percent of the modern land surface of the earth, mostly between the latitudes of 10 to 30 degrees north or south. Here the descending part of the tropical atmospheric circulation (the
Hadley cell The Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a global-scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the equator, flowing poleward at a height of 10 to 15 kilometers above the earth's surface, descending in the subtropics ...
) produces high atmospheric pressure and suppresses precipitation. Large areas of this desert is floored with windblown sand. Such areas are called '' ergs'' when they exceed about in area or ''dune fields'' when smaller. Ergs and dune fields make up about 20% of modern deserts or about 6% of the Earth's total land surface. The sandy areas of today's world are somewhat anomalous. Deserts, in both the present day and in the geological record, are usually dominated by
alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s rather than dune fields. The present relative abundance of sandy areas may reflect reworking of
Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
sediments following the Last Glacial Maximum. Most modern deserts have experienced extreme Quaternary climate change, and the sediments that are now being churned by wind systems were generated in upland areas during previous
pluvial In geology and climatology, a pluvial is either a modern climate characterized by relatively high precipitation or an interval of time of variable length, decades to thousands of years, during which a climate is characterized by relatively high ...
(moist) periods and transported to depositional basins by stream flow. The sediments, already sorted during their initial fluvial transport, were further sorted by wind, which also sculpted the sediments into eolian landforms. The state of an aeolian system depends mainly on three things: The amount of sediment supply, the availability of sediments, and the transport capacity of the winds. The sediment supply is largely produced in
pluvial In geology and climatology, a pluvial is either a modern climate characterized by relatively high precipitation or an interval of time of variable length, decades to thousands of years, during which a climate is characterized by relatively high ...
periods (periods of greater rainfall) and accumulates by runoff as fan deltas or terminal fans in
sedimentary basin Sedimentary basins are region-scale depressions of the Earth's crust where subsidence has occurred and a thick sequence of sediments have accumulated to form a large three-dimensional body of sedimentary rock. They form when long-term subside ...
s. Another important source of sediments is the reworking of
carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate ...
sediments on continental shelves exposed during times of lower sea level. Sediment availability depends on the coarseness of the local sediment supply, the degree of exposure of sediment grains, the amount of soil moisture, and the extent of vegetation coverage. The potential transport rate of wind is usually more than the actual transport, because the sediment supply is usually insufficient to saturate the wind. In other words, most aeolian systems are ''transport-undersaturated'' (or ''sediment-undersaturated''). Aeolian desert systems can be divided into wet, dry, or stabilized systems. Dry systems have the
water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...
well below the surface, where it has no stabilizing effect on sediments. Dune shapes determine whether sediment is deposited, simply moves across surface (a ''bypass'' system), or erosion takes place. Wet systems are characterized by a water table near the depositional surface, which exerts a strong control on deposition, bypass, or erosion. Stabilized systems have significant vegetation, surface cement, or mud drapes which dominate the evolution of the system. The Sahara shows the full range of all three types. The movement of sediments in aeolian systems can be represented by sand-flow maps. These are based on meteorological observations, bedform orientations, and trends of yardangs. They are analogous to drainage maps, but are not as closely tied to topography, since wind can blow sand significant distances uphill. The Sahara of North Africa is the largest hot desert in the world. Flowlines can be traced from erg to erg, demonstrating very long transport downwind. Satellite observations show yardangs aligned with the sandflow lines. All flowlines arise in the desert itself, and show indications of clockwise circulation roughly like high pressure cells. The greatest deflation occurs in dried lake beds where trade winds form a low-level jet between the
Tibesti Mountains The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and i ...
and the
Ennedi Plateau The Ennedi Plateau is located in the northeast of Chad, in the regions of Ennedi-Ouest and Ennedi-Est. It is considered a part of the group of mountains known as the Ennedi Massif found in Chad, which is one of the nine countries that make up ...
. The flowlines eventually reach the, sea creating great plume of Saharan dust extending thousands of kilometers into the Atlantic Ocean. This creates a steady rain of silt into the ocean. It is estimated that 260 million tons of sediments are transported through this system each year, but the amount was much greater during the Last Glacial Maximum, based on deep-sea cores. Mineral dust of 0.1–1 microns in size is a good shortwave radiation scatterer and has a cooling effect on climate. Another example of an aeolian system is the arid interior of Australia. With few topographic barriers to sand movement, an anticlockwise wind system is traced by systems of longitudinal dunes. The
Namib The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Nami ...
and
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
ergs are fed by coastal sediments. The Namib receives its sediments from the south through narrow deflation corridors from coast that cross more than of bedrock to the erg. The Oman was created by deflation of marine shelf carbonates during the last Pleistocene lowstand of the sea. The
Loess Plateau The Chinese Loess Plateau, or simply the Loess Plateau, is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounde ...
of China has been a long-term sink for sediments during the Quaternary ice age. It provides a record of glaciation, in the form of glacial loess layers separated by
paleosol In the geosciences, paleosol (''palaeosol'' in Great Britain and Australia) is an ancient soil that formed in the past. The precise definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geolo ...
s (fossil soils). The loess layers were desposited by a strong northwest winter monsoon, while the paleosols record the influence of a moist southeast monsoon. The African savannah is mostly ergs deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum that are now stabilized by vegetation.


Examples

Major global aeolian systems thought to be linked with weather and climate variation: * An average of 132 million tons of dust from the Sahara (primarily the Sahel and
Bodélé Depression The Bodélé Depression (), located at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in north central Africa, is the lowest point in Chad. It is 500 km long, 150 km wide and around 160 m deep. Its bottom lies about 155 meters above sea leve ...
) across the Atlantic each year. * Harmattan winter dust storms in
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
also occur blowing dust to the ocean. * Asian dust originates in the Gobi Desert and reaches Korea, Japan, Taiwan (at times) and even the western US. * The 2018 Indian dust storms transported dust from the
Thar Desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 20th-largest desert, a ...
towards Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and the Indo-Gangetic Plain. * Shamal June–July winds blowing dust in primarily north to south in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, UAE, and parts of Pakistan. *
Haboob A haboob ( ar, هَبوب, lit=blasting/drifting, translit=habūb) is a type of intense dust storm carried on an atmospheric gravity current, also known as a weather front. Haboobs occur regularly in dry land area regions throughout the worl ...
dust storms in Sudan, Australia, Arizona associated with
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
. * Khamsin dust from Libya, Egypt and Levant in Spring associated with
extratropical cyclones Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of ...
. *
Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) a ...
event in USA, carried sand eastward. 5500 tons were deposited in Chicago area. *
Sirocco Sirocco ( ), scirocco, or, rarely, siroc (see below) is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and can reach hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe, especially during the summer season. Names ''Sirocco'' derives from ...
sandy winds from Africa/Sahara blowing north into South Europe. *
Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...
blowing sand/dust east across southern Africa toward Indian Ocean. *
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
in the arid conditions, many aeolian processes have been discovered.


In the geologic record

Aeolian processes can be discerned at work in the geologic record as long ago as the Precambrian. Aeolian formations are prominent in the
Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
and
Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
of the western US. Other examples include the
Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last ...
Rotliegendes The Rotliegend, Rotliegend Group or Rotliegendes (german: the underlying red) is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) of latest Carboniferous to Guadalupian (middle Permian) age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in wes ...
of northwestern Europe; the
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
Botucatu Formation of the Parana Basin of Brazil; the Permian Lower Bunter Sandstone of Britain; the Permian-
Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
Corrie Sandstone Corrie may refer to: Arts and entertainment * nickname of ''Coronation Street'', a long-running British television soap opera ** ''Corrie!'', a play written to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ''Coronation Street'' in 2010 * The Corries, a Scotti ...
and
Hopeman Sandstone Hopeman ( sco, Houpmin, gd, Hudaman) is a seaside village in Moray, Scotland, it is situated on the coast of the Moray Firth, founded in 1805 to house and re-employ people displaced during the Highland clearances. According to the 2011 census ...
of Scotland; and the Proterozoic sandstones of India and northwest Africa. Perhaps the best examples of aeolian processes in the geologic record are the Jurassic ergs of the western US. These include the Wingate Sandstone, the Navajo Sandstone, and the Page Sandstone. Individual formations are separated by regional
unconformities An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...
indicate erg stabilization. The ergs interfingered with adjacent river systems, as with the Wingate Sandstone interfingering with the
Moenave Formation The Moenave Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation, in the Glen Canyon Group. It is found in Utah and Arizona. The Moenave was deposited on an erosion surface on the Chinle Formation following an early Jurassic uplift and unconformity that re ...
and the Navajo Sandstone with the
Kayenta Formation The Kayenta Formation is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the Colorado Plateau province of the United States, including northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Traditionally has been suggested ...
. The Navajo and Nugget Sandstones were part of the largest erg deposit in the geologic record. These formations are up to thick and are exposed over . Their original extent was likely 2.5 times the present outcrop area. Though once thought to possibly be marine in origin, they are now all but universally regarded as aeolian deposits. They are made up mostly of fine- to medium-sized quartz grains that are well-rounded and frosted, both indications of aeolian transport. The Navajo contains huge tabular crossbed sets with sweeping foresets. Individual crossbed sets dip at an angle of more than 20 degrees and are from thick. The formation contains freshwater invertebrate fossils and vertebrate tracks. Slump structures (contorted bedding) are present that resemble those in modern wetted dunes. Successive migrating dunes deposited a vertical stacking of eolian beds between interdune bounding surfaces and regional supersurfaces. The Permian Rotliegend Group of the North Sea and north Europe contains sediments from adjacent uplands. Erg sand bodies within the group are up to thick. Study of the crossbedding shows that sediments were deposited by a clockwise atmospheric cell. Drilling core show dry and wet interdune surfaces and regional supersurfaces, and provide evidence of five or more cycles of erg expansion and contraction. A global rise in sea level finally drowned the erg and deposited the beds of the Weissliegend. The
Cedar Mesa Sandstone Cedar Mesa Sandstone (also known as the Cedar Mesa Formation) is a sandstone memberThe Cutler Formation is sometimes classified as the Cutler Group, in which case Cedar Mesa Sandstone is classified as a formation rather than a member. of the Cutle ...
in Utah was contemporary with the Rogliegend. This formation records at least 12 erg sequences bounded by regional deflation supersurfaces. Aeolian landforms preserved in the formation range from damp sandsheet and lake
paleosol In the geosciences, paleosol (''palaeosol'' in Great Britain and Australia) is an ancient soil that formed in the past. The precise definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geolo ...
(fossil soil) beds to thin, chaotically arranged dune sets to equilibrium erg construction, with dunes wide migrating over still larger draas. The draas survived individual climate cycles, and their interdunes were sites of barchan nucleation during arid portions of the climate cycles.


See also

* * * * * * * *


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
''Facts about wind erosion and dust storms on the Great Plains''
hosted by th
UNT Government Documents Department''Aeolian Research''International Society for Aeolian Research, ISAR
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aeolian Processes Aeolian processes Deserts Geological processes Geomorphology Pedology Sedimentology Soil erosion