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Deserts and Winds

Deserts and Winds. Distribution and causes of dry lands. Dry regions cover 30 percent of Earth’s land surface Two climatic types are commonly recognized Desert or arid Steppe or semiarid. Global distribution of desert and steppe regions. Wind in the desert.

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Deserts and Winds

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  1. Deserts and Winds

  2. Distribution and causes of dry lands • Dry regions cover 30 percent of Earth’s land surface • Two climatic types are commonly recognized • Desert or arid • Steppe or semiarid

  3. Global distribution of desert and steppe regions

  4. Wind in the desert • Transportation of sediment by wind • Differs from that of running water in two ways • Wind is less capable of picking up and transporting coarse materials • Wind is not confined to channels and can spread sediment over large areas

  5. Wind in the desert • Transportation of sediment by wind • Mechanisms of transport • Bedload • Saltation – skipping and bouncing along the surface • About 20 to 25 percent of the sand transported in a sandstorm is moved this way • Suspended load

  6. Wind in the desert • Wind erosion • Wind is a relatively insignificant erosional agent with most erosion in a desert performed by intermittent running water • Mechanisms of wind erosion • Deflation • Lifting of loose material • Deflation produces blowouts (shallow depressions) and desert pavement (a surface of coarse pebbles and cobbles)

  7. Formation of a desert blowout

  8. The soil mound shows the land surface prior to blowout formation

  9. Formation of desert pavement

  10. Wind in the desert • Wind erosion • Mechanisms of wind erosion • Abrasion • Produces ventifacts (stones with flat faces) and yardangs (wind sculpted ridges) • Limited in vertical extent

  11. Wind in the desert • Wind deposits • Significant depositional landforms are created by wind in some regions • Two types of wind deposits • Dunes • Mounds or ridges of sand • Often asymmetrically shaped • Windward slope is gently inclined and the leeward slope is called the slip face

  12. Formation of sand dunes

  13. Sand dunes in the western United States

  14. Wind in the desert • Wind deposits • Two types of wind deposits • Dunes • Slow migration of dunes in the direction of wind movement • Several types of sand dunes including transverse, longitudinal, parabolic

  15. Wind in the desert • Wind deposits • Two types of wind deposits • Loess • Blankets of windblown silt • Two primary sources are deserts and glacial outwash deposits • Extensive deposits occur in China and the central United States

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