Morphodynamic study of reticulate dunes at southeastern fringe of the Tengger Desert

Reticulate dunes are one of the commonest dune types, and yet the least understood. Reticulate dunes at southeastern Tengger Desert are constituted by NE-SW trending primary ridges and nearly vertical secondary ridges. The result of field work studying the morphodynamics and formation mechanism for reticulate dunes in this area shows that the primary ridges were formed by dominant northwest wind and the secondary ridges developed and maintained by alternating dominant wind and subdominant northeast wind on the basis of the primary ridges. Viewed from morphodynamics, reticulate dunes correspond to the complex transverse dune on which the longitudinal element superimposed. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. NSFC-49501001).