Simulation of the effect of wind speedup in the formation of transverse dune fields

A computer simulation model for transverse‐dune‐field dynamics, corresponding to a uni‐directional wind regime, is developed. In a previous formulation, two distinct problems were found regarding the cross‐sectional dune shape, namely the erosion in the lee of dunes and the steepness of the windward slopes. The first problem is solved by introducing no erosion in shadow zones. The second issue is overcome by introducing a wind speedup (shear velocity increase) factor, which can be accounted for by adding a term to the original transport length, which is proportional to the surface height. By incorporating these features we are able to model dunes whose individual shape and collective patterns are similar to those observed in nature. Moreover we show how the introduction of a non‐linear shear‐velocity‐increase term leads to the reduction of dune height, and this may result in an equilibrium dune field configuration. This is thought to be because the non‐linear increase of the transport length makes the sand trapping efficiency lower than unity, even for higher dunes, so that the incoming and the outgoing sand flux are in balance. To fully describe the inter‐dune morphology more precise dynamics in the lee of the dune must be incorporated. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

青海共和盆地早全新世古风向重建及其对黄土物源的指示

青藏高原东北部地处黄土与沙漠的过渡地区,在冰期-间冰期旋回中受中纬西风与东亚季风环流的交替控制,曾发生大范围的沙漠进退,是黄土高原重要的潜在物源区。恢复该区地质历史时期的大气环流格局可为重建东亚地区的环境面貌、探讨黄土高原的物源区、检验东亚地区古气候模拟结果的有效性等方面提供重要依据。但目前对高原东北部的古大气环流特征却鲜有研究。青藏高原东北部保存有一系列的古沙丘,可为古大气环流的重建提供直接依据。本文选取青海共和盆地一处代表性新月形古沙丘开展光释光测年研究,并通过其平面形态和前积层产状恢复了当时的古风向。结果表明:共和盆地的风沙活动自早全新世以来开始显著减弱,此时近地面盛行与现今风向一致的西北风。前人的研究揭示出青藏高原东北部在冰期时很可能盛行西风,并存在广泛的荒漠化,因而很可能是黄土高原冰期时重要的物源区之一。而本研究指示,该区的盛行风向在早全新世以来转变为西北风,且荒漠范围显著退缩,导致其全新世不再是黄土高原的物源区。青藏高原东北部的盛行风向和荒漠范围在冰期-间冰期旋回中的这种变化,为理解黄土高原的粉尘物源在空间和冰期-间冰期旋回上的变化提供了依据。     

The control of wind strength on the barchan to parabolic dune transition

The evolution of barchan-to-parabolic dunes can be driven by vegetation establishment, which may be linked to climate change and/or human activity. However, little is known of the impact of changes in wind strength on vegetation development and the resulting impacts on the evolution of dune morphology and sedimentological characteristics. To address this issue, we studied the morphology and grain-size characteristics of barchan, barchan-to-parabolic and parabolic dunes in the Mu Us Desert in north China, which was combined with an analysis of changes in normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and climatic variables during 1982–2018. The results reveal a trend of increasing growing-season NDVI which was related to a significant decrease in drift potential (DP). Therefore, we suggest that the initiation of dune transformation was caused by the reduced wind strength which favored the establishment and development of vegetation. To reveal the response of sedimentological reorganization during the processes of dune transformation, grain-size characteristics along the longitudinal profile of the three different types of dunes were examined. The decreasing wind strength led to the transport of fine sands on the upper part of the windward face of the dunes, resulting in a progressive coarsening of the grain-size distribution (GSD) and a reduction in dune height at the crest area. No distinct trend in sorting and mean grain-size was observed on the windward slope of the barchan-to-parabolic dune, indicating that the sand in transit had little influence on the GSD. Conversely, progressive sorting and coarsening of the sand occurred towards the crest of the parabolic dune. This indicates that vegetation development limited the transport of sand from upwind of the dune, and affected a shift in the dune source material to the underlying source deposits, or to reworked pre-existing aeolian deposits, and resulted in the trapping of sand in the crest area. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mitigating the effects of sand dunes on seismic data from the Rub al Khali basin,Saudi Arabia

The Rub Al Khali region in Saudi Arabia is characterized by the presence of sand dunes separated by salt flats, also called Sabkhas. In general, the elevation of dunes in this region varies between 90 and 250 m above sea level. The presence of these sand dunes, along with the rapidly changing surface topography poses challenges for seismic data acquisition and processing. The high contrast in acoustic impedance between the dune base and the underlying formation often results in amplification of seismic waves that are recorded at stations located on the surface of sand dunes. Attempts to address the issue using conventional surface-consistent amplitude scaling methods without reducing these amplification effects generally fail, thus compromising the suitability of the processed data for amplitude versus offset analysis. In this study, we propose a new reference site technique to reduce the effects of sand dune amplification, enabling the production of data sets that are suitable for amplitude versus offset processing. The proposed technique uses a deterministic approach to derive surface-consistent, frequency-dependent de-amplification functions for shots and stations located on the dunes only. Two-dimensional synthetic and field data examples show that the technique significantly reduces the effects of sand dune amplification.     

不同气候带的河道与沙丘分布格局及其类型划分

风水交互作用是干旱区常见的地貌现象和重要的地表过程,干旱区河流通过提供物源和场所控制沙漠分布的格局,沙漠分布与风沙活动制约河道发育和泥沙输移,在不同时空尺度表现不一,但关于二者交互作用的分类处于探索阶段,尚未形成分类体系,尤其在地貌格局分类上多为定性描述。因此,自西向东选择位于3个气候带的中国西部克里雅河、中部毛不拉格孔兑以及东部西拉木伦河,利用遥感影像解译获取河道与沙丘信息,探讨近源沙丘的分布与河型之间的组合关系。结果表明：河型、河流流向与风向之间的关系、水文以及距离河道的远近影响河道与沙丘组合的地貌格局;在河道-沙丘尺度上,划分为弯曲河道-对称式边滩沙丘、顺直河道-边滩沙丘、分汊河道-心滩式沙丘、网状河道-格状镶嵌式沙丘4种类型。     

小冰期福建海岸沙丘的沉积环境

选取福建东南沿海典型海岸沙丘——东海沙丘,运用GPR（Ground Penetrating Radar）技术探测海岸沙丘内部构造,辅助天然剖面和人工探槽观测,进行系统的年代采样与OSL（Optically Stimulated Luminescence）测年,并选择物理意义明确的粒度参数作为主要环境代用指标,获得了亚热带季风区砂质海岸带典型海岸沙丘的沉积年代和沉积结构。结果表明：（1）东海沙丘是由若干灌丛沙丘组成的横向沙丘,0～6 m主要是～0.45 ka BP以来形成的海岸风成沙丘,可以划分为～0.45 ka BP和0.22～0.12 ka BP两个阶段。（2）东海沙丘沉积过程是多因素共同作用的结果,冷干的气候环境是沙丘发育的适宜条件,入境台风频率增加可能加快了风沙的沉积过程。对比历史文献资料发现,气候异常期往往与社会动荡期、重要历史事件相对应。     

探地雷达在福建漳浦海岸抛物线沙丘沉积构造探测中的应用

本文进行了探地雷达在福建漳浦六鳌半岛海岸抛物线沙丘沉积构造探测中的初步应用。结果表明:(1)被探测海岸沙丘的粒度、含水量等理化性质,不同的天线频率,室内数字滤波、增益调适等图像处理环节,均会对探地雷达的探测结果产生影响。(2)本次探测结果以及人工砂坑剖面表明探地雷达是探测海岸沙丘沉积构造的良好手段。(3)通过判读探地雷达图像显示的沉积构造序列组合特点,并根据最近数十年研究区海岸环境演变初步调查结果,认为所探测海岸抛物线沙丘的发育过程,经历了早期海滩脊出露海面、继而发育植被和抛物线沙丘两个阶段。     

Understanding river dune splitting through flume experiments and analysis of a dune evolution model

Forecasts of water level during river floods require accurate predictions of the evolution of river dune dimensions, because the hydraulic roughness of the main channel is largely determined by the bed morphology. River dune dimensions are controlled by processes like merging and splitting of dunes. Particularly the process of dune splitting is still poorly understood and – as a result – not yet included in operational dune evolution models. In the current paper, the process of dune splitting is investigated by carrying out laboratory experiments and by means of a sensitivity analysis using a numerical dune evolution model. In the numerical model, we introduced superimposed TRIAS ripples (i.e. triangular asymmetric stoss side‐ripples) on the stoss sides of underlying dunes as soon as these stoss sides exceed a certain critical length. Simulations with the model including dune splitting showed that predictions of equilibrium dune characteristics were significantly improved compared to the model without dune splitting. As dune splitting is implemented in a parameterized way, the computational cost remains low which means that dune evolution can be calculated on the timescale of a flood wave. Subsequently, we used this model to study the mechanism of dune splitting. Literature showed that the initiation of a strong flow separation zone behind a superimposed bedform is one of the main mechanisms behind dune splitting. The flume experiments indicated that besides its height also the lee side slope of the superimposed bedform is an important factor to determine the strength of the flow separation zone and therefore is an important aspect in dune splitting. The sensitivity analysis of the dune evolution model showed that a minimum stoss side length was required to develop a strong flow separation zone. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Response of bedload transport, submarine topography, and dune internal structures to typhoon processes off Dongfang coast in the Beibu Gulf

Bedload sediment transport was estimated by the SEDTRANS96 model based on three-day hydrodynamics data obtained off the Dongfang coast in the Beibu Gulf during Typhoon Ketsana in September 2009. Bedforms on the sea floor off the Dongfang coast and internal structures of a typical dune were interpreted to evaluate storm influences on individual dunes and the dune field. Results indicated that flow forcings and related bedload transport were both strengthened significantly due to Typhoon Ketsana. The measurements and modeling results, which mainly included three different stages, presented noticeable phasic variation. The three stages were dominated by tidal current (Period Ⅰ), tidal current combined with wind-induced waves (Period Ⅱ), and swells combined with tidal current and seaward flows (Period Ⅲ). This phasic variation could be a common trait of hydrodynamics due to typhoons moving westwardly to the south of Hainan Island and Beibu Gulf in South China Sea. Results indicated that the maximum bedload transport rate for every burst in Period Ⅲ was almost 100 times larger than that in Period I and was ten times larger than that in Period II. However, the short-term increase in bedload transport induced by storms like Ketsana did not change the long-term evolution of dune morphology. Evidence was given by the internal structures of a typical dune, which revealed renewed modification under subsequent moderate conditions after storm erosion. Instead, storms may influence at different scales and regional allocation of sand dunes in some large areas because changes of the sea floor in large scales can hardly be recovered. More surveys during and after storm passage are also needed to document the level of positive contribution to forward migration.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠沙垄区公路防护带内风场特征研究

塔克拉玛干沙漠公路是世界上穿越流沙区最长的公路,公路两侧防沙治沙工程体系是公路正常运行的关键因素。以塔克拉玛干沙漠沙垄区的公路防护林带为研究对象,结合野外地形测量、防护工程调查以及风沙数据观测,分析沙垄不同地貌部位防护林带内气流特征,揭示防护林带内风场变化规律,探讨不同地貌部位防护林带的防护效果。主要结论是:①垂直于公路的防护林带断面风场存在3个区(防护林带前部风速迅速降低区、防护林带中部风速低值区、防护林带工程后部风速恢复区),气流穿过公路路面时风速呈增大趋势,利于公路防护;②现有防护林带具有较好的防护效果,相对于防护林带上风向流沙区的风速,防护林带中部风速降低幅度在80%以上,多数断面在林带前缘10H后（H为植株平均高度）风速降低至最小;③沙垄不同地貌部位的工程防护效益存在显著差异,迎风坡底部防护效果最好,迎风坡中部防护最差。其研究结果可为塔克拉玛干沙漠公路防沙治沙工程体系优化提供科学依据。