Winds and sand movements in the Namib Sand Sea

Wind regimes in the vicinity of the Namib Sand Sea are high energy unimodal near the coast, becoming bimodal or complex inland. There is an overall decrease in wind energy and sand transport rates from south to north and west to east, such that sand moves from coastal and southern source areas to accumulate in the northern and central parts of the sand sea. Such a pattern can explain much of the observed spatial variability in dune types, sizes, and sediment characteristics and lends support to a climatic model of sand sea formation in this region. Seasonal and daily cycles of wind velocity and direction give rise to episodic sand transport, most of which is generated by winds of moderate velocity and frequency.     

Slope process change and colluvium deposition in Swaziland: An SEM analysis

Electron microscope analysis of sixty samples taken from six colluvium sites in Swaziland has shown that the quartz grains exhibit marked edge abrasion in the uppermost beds of exposures. This edge abrasion is lacking in the lower beds in all sections examined and indicates slope process change during colluvium deposition. A model of slope evolution is provided, in which slope erosion progressively brings about more channelling and causes greater surface roughness because of the exhumation of more core stones and differentially weathered rock. This roughness causes increased edge abrasion.     

Dunes on the skeleton coast,Namibia (South West Africa): Geomorphology and grain size relationships

Simple, and locally compound, transverse and barchanoid dunes dominate the 2000 km² Skeleton Coast dunefield in northwestern Namibia/South West Africa. Dune height and spacing are closely correlated (r = 0-89) and decrease across the dunefield from southwest to northeast, with an accompanying change from transverse to barchanoid ridges and ultimately barchans. The dunes are aligned transverse to the dominant strong south and south southwest onshore winds. Alignment patterns indicate that surface roughness changes between coastal plain and dunes cause dune-forming winds to swing to the right over the dunes, but resume their original direction beyond. Grain size and sorting vary at three scales: the dune, the dune landscape and through the dunefield. Overall the sands, derived from three localities by deflation from beaches supplied by vigorous longshore drift, become progressively finer and better sorted across the dunefield paralleling changes in dune height and spacing. A statistically significant relationship (r = ?0?65) was established between dune spacing and the phi grain size of the coarser fraction of the dune sands, demonstrating the importance of the protective effects of coarse grains, and suggesting that the morphometry of simple transverse dunes may be controlled by the scale of turbulence associated with the threshold wind speed required to move the coarsest fraction of the dune sand.     

Wind ripples in an active drift sand area in the Netherlands: A preliminary report

Two types of wind ripples are distinguished in an active drift sand area near Hulshorst in The Veluwe (Central Netherlands). The common type has amplitudes of about 0·5 cm and wavelengths of some 11 cm, the atypical ripple has amplitudes of about 1 cm and wavelengths of some 16 cm. In both cases, the sand grains in the crests are coarser than those in the troughs. However, the coarseness of the grains in the crests of the higher ripples is much more pronounced than that of the lower. It is tentatively suggested that wind ripples are initiated by a regular downwind alternation in the impact energy of the descending grains in saltation, possibly due to fixed gravity waves in the sheared flows of air with grains which have strong density gradients with height.     

Significance of variations in the wind energy environment over the past 50 years with respect to dune activity and desertification in arid and semiarid northern China

Climate data from 339 meteorological stations collected from the 1950s to the early 2000s was employed to discuss aeolian activity in arid and semiarid northern China. The results show that at decadal time scales, erosivity varied greatly in this region. Most of arid and semiarid northern China was characterised by environments with moderate to low wind energy. After the 1980s, the erosivity was only 20 to 50% of that beforehand, and this difference had a significant impact on the environmental changes observed during the two periods. The dune mobility index was consistent with the observed dune activity. After the 1980s dune activity decreased and in some deserts with vegetated dune systems during the 1970s most of the dune plinths were active until the 1980s, after which only the crests were active. Some mobile dunes that had developed at the margins of mobile deserts were replaced by semi-anchored or anchored dunes. Because most desert areas with vegetated dune systems in arid and semiarid northern China are used for farming or grazing, the results of our monitoring show that the desertification trends were consistent with the trends in erosivity and dune activity in this region. Desertification was controlled much more by climatic changes than has previously been acknowledged, and especially by fluctuations in wind energy.     

The harmonious character in equilibrium aeolian transport on mixed sand bed

Wind tunnel experiments were carried out to measure the spatial distribution in equilibrium transport of four types of mixed sand. The flux profiles of each grain size group were calculated. It is found that the vertical distribution of mean grain size has a close relation with the grain size distribution in the sand bed. In a log-linear plot, the flux profiles of main grain size groups are all straight lines and their slopes are nearly equal. It is also found that the ratio of transport rate of each size group to the whole transport rate is directly proportional to the mass ratio of each size group in the sand bed and the proportion value is only dependent on the grain size. This harmonious law is applicable to all four types of mixed sand used in the experiment.     

800KaB．P．来西藏“一江两河”中游地区的气候与西南季风变化

西藏“一江两河”中游地区风成地层沉积时代、沉积相和磁化率等研究结果表明，早在８００ＫａＢ．Ｐ．前西南季风就已存在，受全球气候波动和青藏高原隆起的影响，其盛行衰变与东南季风具有较好的一致性，主要表现为本区地层所记录的气候变化信息不如东南季风区详细；而且西南季风因高原屏障作用给本区带来的降水愈来愈少，气候明显地向干冷化发展。     

Archean to Recent aeolian sand systems and their sedimentary record: Current understanding and future prospects

The sedimentary record of aeolian sand systems extends from the Archean to the Quaternary, yet current understanding of aeolian sedimentary processes and product remains limited. Most preserved aeolian successions represent inland sand‐sea or dunefield (erg) deposits, whereas coastal systems are primarily known from the Cenozoic. The complexity of aeolian sedimentary processes and facies variability are under‐represented and excessively simplified in current facies models, which are not sufficiently refined to reliably account for the complexity inherent in bedform morphology and migratory behaviour, and therefore cannot be used to consistently account for and predict the nature of the preserved sedimentary record in terms of formative processes. Archean and Neoproterozoic aeolian successions remain poorly constrained. Palaeozoic ergs developed and accumulated in relation to the palaeogeographical location of land masses and desert belts. During the Triassic, widespread desert conditions prevailed across much of Europe. During the Jurassic, extensive ergs developed in North America and gave rise to anomalously thick aeolian successions. Cretaceous aeolian successions are widespread in South America, Africa, Asia, and locally in Europe (Spain) and the USA. Several Eocene to Pliocene successions represent the direct precursors to the present‐day systems. Quaternary systems include major sand seas (ergs) in low‐lattitude and mid‐latitude arid regions, Pleistocene carbonate and Holocene–Modern siliciclastic coastal systems. The sedimentary record of most modern aeolian systems remains largely unknown. The majority of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of aeolian systems envisage transverse dunes, whereas successions representing linear and star dunes remain under‐recognized. Research questions that remain to be answered include: (i) what factors control the preservation potential of different types of aeolian bedforms and what are the characteristics of the deposits of different bedform types that can be used for effective reconstruction of original bedform morphology; (ii) what specific set of controlling conditions allow for sustained bedform climb versus episodic sequence accumulation and preservation; (iii) can sophisticated four‐dimensional models be developed for complex patterns of spatial and temporal transition between different mechanisms of accumulation and preservation; and (iv) is it reasonable to assume that the deposits of preserved aeolian successions necessarily represent an unbiased record of the conditions that prevailed during episodes of Earth history when large‐scale aeolian systems were active, or has the evidence to support the existence of other major desert basins been lost for many periods throughout Earth history?     

干涸尾闾湖盆区泥漠地表磨蚀释尘特征

沙粒的表面磨蚀效应是地表产尘、释尘的重要机制,针对干湖盆泥漠地表开展磨蚀释尘实验研究,对理解干湖盆地表风蚀过程及盐碱尘暴形成机理具有重要意义。对采自西居延海干涸湖盆泥漠地表土样进行室内磨蚀模拟实验,研究了不同粒级（细、中、粗）沙粒不同落沙角度（30°,45°,60°）的磨蚀效应。结果表明：（1）泥漠地表磨蚀实验中能够产生明显释尘效应的沙粒粒级阈值为中沙（0.25 mm<M_d<0.50 mm）;（2）磨蚀粒径粒级相同时,磨蚀角度会对泥漠地表磨蚀释尘速率产生影响,磨蚀量的角度排序为60°>30°>45°,但同一粒级3种角度下的磨蚀释尘率差异不显著。（3）磨蚀角度为45°时,计算了泥漠地表的质量磨蚀率与能量磨蚀率,其中中沙为0.04 g·kg^-1、0.43 g·J^-1,粗沙为0.08 g·kg^-1、0.74 g·J^-1,极粗沙为0.26 g·kg^-1、2.54 g·J^-1;在磨蚀沙粒粒级倍增而磨蚀角度不变情况下,泥漠地表磨蚀释尘率与能量磨蚀率未发生正比例线性增长变化。