Abstract: | This paper describes the appearance and maintenance of crescentic dunes in high wind speed conditions on a frozen beach at Schiermonnikoog, The Netherlands. The dunes were cresentic forms with horns. They were barchanoidal in plan view, but had reverse morphologies to typical barchans: the highest and steepest slopes were upwind and led to long low slopes downwind. Slipfaces were absent. It is hypothesized that such crescentic dunes may be a stable aerodynamic form under high to very high (c. 15–20 m s−1) flow conditions. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |