Ventifacts and wind-abraded rock features in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica

An area north of Lake Fryxell in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, was surveyed to determine the frequency of occurrence of rocks that show strong evidence of wind abrasion and ventifaction, which is defined here as rocks having well-developed faceting, to define their relative abundance in this area of the ice-free McMurdo Dry Valley system and to provide an indication of the role of wind as a geomorphic agent in this area. The orientation of abrasion-caused features (facets, keels, and grooves) with respect to the present day wind regime is also described. Rocks were examined on five linear transects ranging from 300 to 510 m in length. A total of 1324 rocks were examined. On average, 60% of all rocks exhibited distinct wind abrasion features with polish being the most common feature and polished rocks were distributed equally between survey lines, suggesting abrasion was ubiquitous in the study area. Approximately 4% of the rocks had distinct facets and/or keels, and fine-grained ultramafic peridotite-type rocks produced the most finely-featured forms (i.e., sharp facet edges and keels). A larger percentage, ≈ 12.5%, had grooves. Grooves were typically associated with a tabular form of mafic diabase-type igneous rock. The distribution of faceted ventifacts and grooved rocks was not uniform for the five transects, suggesting that the distribution mechanism for the surface rocks and the source areas determined, to a large extent, what form of ventifact could be produced at a location. The orientation of the grooves and dip directions of the facets indicates the direction of the abrasive winds had a strong westerly component, which coincides with the modern wind regime of winter katabatic flows that move down valley toward the Ross Sea. The orientation of the facets and grooves suggests that the rate of formation of the ventifacts proceeds at a pace greater than other surficial processes (e.g., down-slope soil movement, cryoturbation), which should tend to remove trends in the facet and groove orientations, or that the down-slope movement of the surface is approximately perpendicular to the wind allowing preservation of the alignment.     

Ventifacts on Earth and Mars: Analytical, field, and laboratory studies supporting sand abrasion and windward feature development

Terrestrial ventifacts – rocks that have been abraded by windblown particles – are found in desert, periglacial, and coastal environments. On Mars, their abundance suggests that aeolian abrasion is one of the most significant erosional processes on the planet. There are several conflicting viewpoints concerning the efficacy of potential abrasive agents, principally sand and dust, and the relationships between wind direction and ventifact form. Our research, supported by a review of the literature, shows that sand, rather than dust or other materials, is the principle abrasive agent on Earth and Mars. Relative to dust, sand delivers about 1000× the energy onto rock surfaces on a per particle basis. Even multiple dust collisions will do little or no damage because the stress field from the impact is much smaller than the spacing of microflaws in the rock. The abrasion profiles of terrestrial ventifacts are consistent with a kinetic energy flux due to saltating sand, not airborne dust. Furthermore, Scanning Electron Microscope images reveal surfaces that are fractured and cleaved by sand grain impact. With respect to their distribution, ventifacts are found in regions that contain sand or did so in the past, but are not found where only dust activity occurs. Contrary to some published reports, our evidence from field studies, analytical models, and wind tunnel and other experiments indicates that windward, not leeward, abrasion is responsible for facet development and feature formation (pits, flutes, and grooves). Leeward abrasion is confined to fluvial conditions, in which the high viscosity and density of water are able to entrain sand-size material in vortices. Therefore, ventifacts and abraded terrain provide an unambiguous proxy for the direction of the highest velocity winds, and can be used to reconstruct palaeowind flow.     

Criteria for the identification of ventifacts in the geological record: A review and new insights

Ventifacts (wind-worn stones) are typical of terrestrial environments remained very long without any vegetation, under hot or cold climates. Therefore, within the sedimentary record, they can allow recognizing desert conditions, even where no aeolian dune deposits are preserved. There seems that, in the recent literature, pebbles and cobbles from various palaeoenvironments were mistaken for ventifacts. This may partly be explained by the scatter and relative scarcity of illustrations to which refer. The aim of this paper is to help recognizing ventifacts in the sedimentary record, based on a critical review of the diagnostic properties generally used, and on new studies permitting to suggest additional criteria. After an evaluation of the sedimentary contexts favourable to preserving ventifacts, the distinctive characters that could be seen on each one are treated in order of increasing alteration of the original appearance: surface features, medium-scale features (new types of pit especially), and general shape. Finally, the problem of distinguishing between ventifacts and aquafacts is approached.     

Controls on the formation of coastal ventifacts

Ventifacted boulders are present within the intertidal zone of a mixed sand and boulder beach in Gweebarra Bay, northwest Ireland. The boulders show features typical of wind abrasion by sand including polished surfaces, pits and grooves. Orientation of ventifact keels was measured and direction of prevailing winds responsible for ventifaction was inferred from a sample of 50 boulders in each of two adjoining locations on the beach (30 m apart). The keel orientations and inferred wind direction are both strongly clustered but results from each location differ by 90° from one another, and neither corresponds closely to the present-day regional wind regime. Since wind flow patterns were not significantly different during the Little Ice Age, when the ventifacts were likely formed, the orientation of ventifact keels cannot be used uncritically, as in many studies, as a proxy record of prevailing wind direction. It is likely that ventifact development in Gweebarra Bay was controlled by sediment availability rather than by wind direction.     

Ventifacts distribution in Qatar

This study attempts to investigate the distribution of ventifacts in Qatar. It is believed that ventifacts are confined to the areas within about 5 km of the Miocene or Mio-Pliocene Hofuf formations and the spreads of continental gravels derived from them. Three hypotheses were formulated: (1) Ventifacts in Qatar are confined to areas within about 5 km of the Hofuf formations and the spreads of continental gravels derived from them. The distribution of ventifacts within these areas varies according to the nature of the ground surface; (2) The most active ventifaction areas are where the continental gravels merge with the Eocene limestone because of the increase in saltation particle speed in these areas where bedrock or bare limestone is exposed; (3) The unit area ratio of ventifact to non-ventifact pebbles varies inversely with the total amount of pebbles. To test these hypotheses, nine land class categories were identified in the three major Hofuf formations. Line transects were carried out from randomly selected stations near the middle of the Hofuf formations. Along each transect systematic sampling was carried out at 200 m intervals. The data were processed using a WANG MVP 2200 computer with software developed for the project. It was found that ventifacts tend to concentrate on the outer edges of the continental gravels in areas of limestone outcrop and limestone pavement. Higher areas have big gravel counts and a low ratio of ventifacts while the low-lying plains have small gravel counts and a higher ratio of ventifacts. In certain areas ‘ventifact fields’ were found where the density of ventifacts was as high as 30 per m². Many of the ventifacts in these fields were buried beneath the surface suggesting that the ventifaction predates the present site conditions. Other high ventifact density areas were discovered where the ventifacts have collected in shallow depressions or hollows on the limestone plateaux. Water action has washed these ventifacts, a high proportion of which are dreikanters, into the hollows, where they have been partially buried in fine alluvial silts. These ‘ventifact graveyards’ are generally only a few metres wide but contain large numbers of fine specimens.