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1.
The pattern of dunes within the Gran Desierto of Sonora, Mexico, is both spatially diverse and complex. Identification of the pattern components from remote‐sensing images, combined with statistical analysis of their measured parameters demonstrate that the composite pattern consists of separate populations of simple dune patterns. Age‐bracketing by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) indicates that the simple patterns represent relatively short‐lived aeolian constructional events since ～25 ka. The simple dune patterns consist of: (i) late Pleistocene relict linear dunes; (ii) degraded crescentic dunes formed at ～12 ka; (iii) early Holocene western crescentic dunes; (iv) eastern crescentic dunes emplaced at ～7 ka; and (v) star dunes formed during the last 3 ka. Recognition of the simple patterns and their ages allows for the geomorphic backstripping of the composite pattern. Palaeowind reconstructions, based upon the rule of gross bedform‐normal transport, are largely in agreement with regional proxy data. The sediment state over time for the Gran Desierto is one in which the sediment supply for aeolian constructional events is derived from previously stored sediment (Ancestral Colorado River sediment), and contemporaneous influx from the lower Colorado River valley and coastal influx from the Bahia del Adair inlet. Aeolian constructional events are triggered by climatic shifts to greater aridity, changes in the wind regime, and the development of a sediment supply. The rate of geomorphic change within the Gran Desierto is significantly greater than the rate of subsidence and burial of the accumulation surface upon which it rests.  相似文献   

2.
Pattern formation is a fundamental aspect of self‐organization in fields of bedforms. Time‐series aerial photographs and airborne light detection and ranging show that fully developed, crescentic aeolian dunes at White Sands, New Mexico, interact and the dune pattern organizes in systematically similar ways as wind ripples and subaqueous dunes and ripples. Documented interactions include: (i) merging; (ii) lateral linking; (iii) defect repulsion; (iv) bedform repulsion; (v) off‐centre collision; (vi) defect creation; and (vii) dune splitting. Merging and lateral linking are constructive interactions that give rise to a more organized pattern. Defect creation and bedform splitting are regenerative interactions that push the system to a more disorganized state. Defect/bedform repulsion and off‐centre collision cause significant pattern change, but appear to be neutral in overall pattern development. Measurements of pattern parameters (number of dunes, crest length, defect density, crest spacing and dune height), dune migration rates, and the type and frequency of dune interactions within a 3500 m box transect from the upwind margin to the core of the dune field show that most pattern organization occurs within the upwind field. Upwind dominance by constructive interactions yields to neutral and regenerative interactions in the field centre. This spatial change reflects upwind line source and sediment availability boundary conditions arising from antecedent palaeo‐lake topography. Pattern evolution is most strongly coupled to the pattern parameters of dune spacing and defect density, such that spatially or temporally the frequency of bedform interactions decreases as the dunes become further apart and have fewer defects.  相似文献   

3.
The sediment state of aeolian dune fields and sand seas at a basinal scale is defined by the separate components of sediment supply, sediment availability and the transport capacity of the wind. The sediment supply for aeolian systems is the sediment that contemporaneously or at some later point serves as the source material for the aeolian system. Numerous factors impact the susceptibility of grains on a surface to transport, but these are cumulatively manifested by the actual transport rate, which serves as a proxy for sediment availability. Transport capacity is the potential sediment transport rate of the wind. Because the three aspects of sediment state can be given as a volumetric rate, they are directly comparable. Plotted simultaneously against time, the generated curves define nine possible classes of sediment state. Sediment supply that is stored occurs because it is transport or availability limited, or generated at a rate greater than the potential or actual transport rates respectively. Contemporaneous or lagged influx to an aeolian system may be limited by sediment availability, but cannot exceed the transport capacity of the wind. For the Kelso dune field in the Mojave Desert of California, a variety of stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence is used to approximate the sediment state of the system. The sediment supply was generated during the latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene during humid periods of enhanced discharge by the Mojave River to form the Lake Mojave fan delta or terminal fan, and has been calculated over time from the sedimentation rate and the frequency of floods. Estimation of transport capacity over time was based upon modern wind data, with an allowance for greater winds during the Pleistocene based upon climatic models. Sediment availability was approximated by calculation of a modern dune mobility index, with variation over time based upon climatic inferences. While quantifying the Kelso or any natural system is subject to numerous uncertainties, the sediment state approach reflects the temporal and spatial disjointed nature of accumulations at Kelso, as well as illuminating questions for future research.  相似文献   

4.
Ralf Hesse   《Quaternary Research》2009,71(3):426-436
Aeolian dunes are widely used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. However, terminal dune fields (ergs) in the coastal desert of southern Peru – where information regarding Quaternary paleoenvironmental conditions is very limited – have until now not been used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and the time depth of their accumulation is unknown. Here, different estimates are derived to constrain the time depth recorded in the Dunas Pampa Blanca, a terminal dune field in coastal southern Peru. Dune field age is calculated using the volume of the Dunas Pampa Blanca and (i) recent aeolian transport rate in migrating transverse dunes feeding the Dunas Pampa Blanca (derived from digital processing of sequential Landsat and Quickbird images) and (ii) limitations posed by recent fluvial sediment supply to the source of aeolian transport. The resulting maximum age estimate of 70 ± 8 ka (from aeolian transport) compares with a minimum age estimate of 4–75 ka (from sediment supply). However, a minimum age estimate of 110–450 ka is deduced from the tectonic and topographic evolution of the region. This discrepancy contradicts the hypothesis of late Quaternary stability in the Peruvian coastal desert and indicates that recent conditions of aeolian sediment supply and transport are not representative for the late Quaternary.  相似文献   

5.
Aeolian dune fields characterized by partly vegetated bedforms undergoing active construction and with interdune depressions that lie at or close to the water table are widespread on Skei?arársandur, Southern Iceland. The largest aeolian dune complex on the sandur covers an area of 80 km2 and is characterized by four distinct landform types: (i) spatially isolated aeolian dunes; (ii) extensive areas of damp and wet (flooded) interdune flat with small fluvial channels; (iii) small aeolian dune fields composed of assemblages of bedforms with simple morphologies and small, predominantly damp, interdune corridors; and (iv) larger aeolian dune fields composed of assemblages of complex bedforms floored by older aeolian dune deposits that are themselves raised above the level of the surrounding wet sandur plain. The morphology of each of these landform areas reflects a range of styles of interaction between aeolian dune, interdune and fluvial processes that operate coevally on the sandur surface. The geometry, scale, orientation and facies composition of sets of strata in the cores of the aeolian dunes, and their relationship to adjoining interdune strata, have been analysed to explain the temporal behaviour of the dunes in terms of their mode of initiation, construction, pattern of migration, style of accumulation and nature of preservation. Seasonal and longer‐term flooding‐induced changes in water table level have caused episodic expansion and contraction of the wet interdune ponds. Most of the dunes are currently undergoing active construction and migration and, although sediment availability is limited because of the high water table, substantial aeolian transport must occur, especially during winter months when the surface of the wet interdune ponds is frozen and sand can be blown across the sandur without being trapped by surface moisture. Bedforms within the larger dune fields have grown to a size whereby formerly damp interdune flats have been reduced to dry enclosed depressions and dry aeolian system accumulation via bedform climb is ongoing. Despite regional uplift of the proximal sandur surface in response to glacial retreat and unloading over the past century, sediment compaction‐induced subsidence of the distal sandur is progressively placing aeolian deposits below the water table and is enabling the accumulation of wet aeolian systems and increasing the likelihood of their long‐term preservation. Wet, dry and stabilizing aeolian system types all co‐exist on Skei?arársandur and the dunes are variously undergoing coeval construction, accumulation, bypass, stabilization and destruction as a result of interactions between localized factors.  相似文献   

6.
The Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone of south‐east Utah is a predominantly aeolian succession that exhibits a complex spatial variation in sedimentary architecture which, in terms of palaeogeographic setting, reflects a transition from a dry erg centre, through a water table‐controlled aeolian‐dominated erg margin, to an outer erg margin subject to periodic fluvial incursion. The erg margin succession represents a wet aeolian system, accumulation of which was controlled by progressive water table rise coupled with ongoing dune migration and associated changes in the supply and availability of sediment for aeolian transport. Variation in the level of the water table relative to the depositional surface determined the nature of interdune sedimentary processes, and a range of dry, damp and wet (flooded) interdune elements is recognized. Variations in the geometry of these units reflect the original morphology and the migratory behaviour of spatially isolated dry interdune hollows in the erg centre, locally interconnected damp and/or wet interdune ponds in the aeolian‐dominated erg margin and fully interconnected, fluvially flooded interdune corridors in the outer erg margin. Relationships between aeolian dune and interdune units indicate that dry, damp and wet interdune sedimentation occurred synchronously with aeolian bedform migration. Temporal variation in the rates of water‐table rise and bedform migration determined the angle of climb of the erg margin succession, such that accumulation rates increased during periods of rapidly rising water table, whereas sediment bypassing (zero angle of climb) occurred in the aftermath of flood events in response to periods of elevated but temporarily static water table. During these periods in the outer erg margin, the expansion of fluvially flooded interdunes in front of non‐climbing but migrating dunes resulted in the amalgamation of laterally adjacent interdunes and the generation of regionally extensive bypass (flood) supersurfaces. A spectrum of genetic depositional models is envisaged that accounts for the complex spatial and temporal evolution of the Cedar Mesa erg margin succession.  相似文献   

7.
Wind is the primary control on the formation of aeolian geomorphology. In this study, we combined wind regime data from automated weather stations in the western and southwestern Tengger Desert of the Inner Mongolia region in China with remote‐sensing data to analyse the relationship between the wind energy environment and aeolian geomorphology. Tengger Desert is one of the main dust storm sources in northwestern China. Therefore, efforts aimed at controlling desertification and dust storm require a deeper understanding of the processes that govern the formation and subsequent evolution of dunes in this area. Wind speed was largest in the northwest (3.3 m/s in the Xiqu station) and smallest in the southeast (1.2 m/s in the Haizitan station). Potential sand transport was also largest in the northwest (195 in the Jiahe station) and smallest in the southeast (33 in the Tumen station). The sand‐driving wind (5.92 m/s) directions were from the NW and SE quadrant across the study area, at >76% of all sand‐driving wind, reaching 99% in the Tumen station. The sand‐driving wind in the NW quadrant reached >48%, and in the SE quadrant, >12% of all sand‐driving wind in all stations. In the study area, sand dunes included crescent, dune networks, transverse, and coppice dunes. Dune crest directions had similar trends from upwind to downwind, at 133° in the middle region, and 124° in the southwestern region. Mean dune spacing changed with dune patterns; the maximum spacing for crescent dunes was 147 m, for dune networks 118 m, and for transverse dunes it was 77 m. The mean crest length was 124 m (maximum) for crescent dunes in the northwest, 121 m for transverse dunes, and 84 m for dune networks. However, because of gullies in the southern region, the mean crest length was only 58 m (least) for the crescent dunes in that area. The defect density ranged from 0.007 to 0.014. The spatial differences in dune patterns reflected the evolution of the dune field, where older dunes had been formed upwind and younger downwind. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

8.
Carling  Williams  Gölz  & Kelsey 《Sedimentology》2000,47(1):253-278
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9.
It has long been understood that as ephemeral landscape features sand dunes are highly sensitive to environmental change, and thus their distribution and the timing of their development may provide clues to past climate dynamics. The relationship between climate and dune activity, however, is neither simple nor straightforward, with a range of controls affecting the balance between erodibility (the availability of sediment for deflation) and erosivity (the potential for sediment transport). To explore such complex systems over large spatial and temporal scales, a number of dune activity indices (DAI) have been created that incorporate wind speed and moisture balances to calculate the potential for, and degree of dune mobilisation. Using modern weather station data, these indices have generally been shown to provide reasonable indications of dune activity potential. Until recently, however, the detailed quantitative data required to inform these equations has not been available for past climate scenarios, and attempts to determine the relative importance of the various controls of dune activity have relied on rough estimations of climatic parameters. This paper combines data from monthly general circulation model (GCM) outputs from the coupled Ocean-Atmosphere GCMs for 21 ka with the most detailed DAI equation presently available to calculate the potential for dune reactivation in southern Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18–24 ka). Based on these data and calculations it is indicated that there was significantly less potential for dune activity across southern Africa at 21 ka. When compared to the aeolian sediment records from the region, this study poses serious and fundamental questions about: 1) the reliability of the model outputs, 2) the degree to which DAIs are able to account for the complexity and dynamics of aeolian systems, and/or 3) the interpretation of dune records as palaeoclimatic proxies at millennial time scales.  相似文献   

10.
Grainfall processes in the lee of transverse dunes, Silver Peak, Nevada   总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6  
Grainfall deposition and associated grainflows in the lee of aeolian dunes are important in that they are preserved as cross‐beds in the geological record and provide a key to the interpretation of the aeolian rock record. Despite their recognized importance, there have been very few field, laboratory or numerical simulation studies of leeside depositional processes on aeolian dunes. As part of an ongoing study, the relationships among grainfall, wind (speed and direction), stoss sand transport rates and dune morphometry (height and aspect ratio) were investigated on four relatively small, straight‐crested transverse dunes at Silver Peak, Nevada. Between 55% and 95% of the total grainfall was found to be deposited within 1 m of the crest, and 84–99% within 2 m, depending primarily on dune size and shape. Grainfall decay rates on high dunes of large aspect ratio were observed to be very consistent, with a weak positive dependence on wind speed. For small dunes with low aspect ratios, grainfall deposition was more varied and decreased rapidly within 1 m of the dune crest, whereas at increased distance from the dune crest, it eventually approached the smaller decay rates observed on the large dunes. No dependence of grainfall on wind speed was observed for these small dunes. Comparison of field data with predictions from 1 ) saltation model of grainfall, based on the computation of saltation path lengths, indicates lack of agreement in the following areas: (1) deposition rate magnitude; (2) variation in decay rate with wind speed; and (3) the magnitude and location of the localized lee‐slope depositional maxima. The Silver Peak field results demonstrate the importance of dune aspect ratio and related wake effects in determining the rate and pattern of grainfall. This work confirms earlier speculation by 7 ) that temporary, turbulent suspension (or `modified saltation') of relatively large grains does occur within the dune wake, so that transport distances generally are larger than predicted by numerical simulations of `true' saltation.  相似文献   

11.
风沙地貌形态动力学研究进展   总被引：7，自引：1，他引：6  
风沙地貌是广泛分布于干旱、半干旱,甚至部分湿润地区,由风力作用形成的一种地貌类型。风沙地貌学是研究在风力作用下物质运动形成的地表形态特征、空间组合规律及其形成演变的科学,是地貌学中以风为外营力形成的地貌为对象的分支学科。风是风沙地貌学研究的基础,其贯穿整个风沙地貌学研究。风况决定了风沙地貌的形态特征、空间组合特征和演化过程,同时,沙丘表面气流和风沙流控制沙丘的形态演化过程和移动过程。风沙地貌经过100多年的发展,在沙丘形态特征、动力学过程等方面取得了长足发展。从风沙地貌观测方法、分析方法和形态动力学角度出发,总结了近年来风沙地貌形态、形成风况以及动力学方面的研究进展。随着新技术的发展,全站仪、三维地形扫描仪等新的形态观测设备开始应用于风沙地貌形态测量,使得大范围风沙地貌形态精准测量成为可能,为风沙地貌形态动力学研究提供精确的地形特征资料。同时,三维超声风速仪等高频风速观测仪器也广泛应用于风沙地貌动力学观测,从而探讨风沙地貌形态—近地层气流的互馈机制。但是,针对具体的分析方法,如风况与沙丘形态的对应关系,近地层气流的分析方法以及形态—气流互馈关系等方面,目前还没有好的解决办法。  相似文献   

12.
Aeolian dune motion is thought to be driven by an annual cycle of sediment‐transporting wind events. Each wind event drives uneven motion of dune crestlines, yet dune crestlines align as a trend to an annual cycle of wind. Understanding the variability in dune motion over such a cycle aids the interpretation of aeolian cross‐stratification, often available only in the limiting exposure of core and outcrop. Digital elevation models obtained by light detection and ranging are used to estimate dune brink motion and sediment flux along the sinuous crestlines of crescentic dunes at White Sands gypsum dune field (south‐central New Mexico, USA) over an annual cycle of wind. In tandem, meteorological observations over the same annual cycle are used to drive a kinematic model of dune crestline motion. Wind‐driven kinematic modelling does well to predict the mean and overall variation in sediment flux with compass direction. Digital elevation model‐based estimations of brink motion and sediment flux reveal that dune motion and sediment flux very nearly follow a circular normal distribution. Dunes at White Sands were found to achieve steady mean values of lee surface dip direction, brink motion and sediment flux within a sample window the size of approximately six dunes of average crestline length. Due to the symmetrical distribution of dune motion about the average lee surface dip direction, uneven motion of dune crestlines averages to become motion of dune crestlines normal to a trend, as predicted by wind‐driven kinematic models.  相似文献   

13.
Abstract New and previously published models of wet aeolian system evolution form a spectrum of types that may be explained in terms of aeolian dune dynamics, rate of water table rise and/or periodicity of interdune flooding. This is illustrated with an example from the Mid‐Triassic (Anisian) Helsby Sandstone Formation, Cheshire, UK. Lenses of damp and wet interdune strata exhibit an intertonguing, transitional relationship with the toe‐sets of overlying aeolian dune units. This signifies dune migration that was contemporaneous with water table‐controlled accumulation in adjacent interdunes. Downwind changes in the geometry and facies of the interdune units indicate periodic expansion and contraction of the interdunes in response to changes in the elevation of the groundwater table and episodic flooding, during which accumulation of dune strata continued relatively uninterrupted. This contrasts with other models for accumulation in wet aeolian systems where interdune flooding is associated with a cessation in aeolian bedform climbing and the formation of a bypass or erosional supersurface. Architectural panels document the detailed stratigraphy in orientations both parallel and perpendicular to aeolian transport direction, enabling a quantitative three‐dimensional reconstruction of genetically related aeolian dune and interdune elements. Sets of aeolian dune strata are composed of grainflow and translatent wind‐ripple strata and are divided by a hierarchy of bounding surfaces originating from oblique migration of superimposed dunes over slipfaceless, sinuous‐crested parent bedforms, together with lee‐slope reactivation under non‐equilibrium flow conditions. Silty‐mudstone and sandstone interdune units are characterized by wind ripple‐, wavy‐ and subaqueous wave ripple‐laminae, desiccation cracks, mud flakes, raindrop imprints, load casts, flutes, intraformational rip‐up clasts and vertebrate and invertebrate footprint impressions and trackways. These units result from accumulation on a substrate that varied from dry‐ through damp‐ to wet‐surface conditions. Interdune ponds were flooded by either fluvial incursions or rises in groundwater table and were periodically subject to gradual desiccation and reflooding. Red silty‐mudstone beds of subaqueous origin pass laterally into horizontally laminated wind‐ripple beds indicating a progressive transition from wet‐ through damp‐ to dry‐surface conditions within a single interdune.  相似文献   

14.
An aeolian dune field migrating to the east encroached on the toes of alluvial fans in the Teruel Basin (eastern Spain) during a short interval in the Late Pliocene (ca 2·9 to 2·6 Ma), when Northern Hemisphere glaciation and strong glacial–interglacial cycles began. Preservation of the dune field was controlled by syn‐sedimentary activity of a normal fault. Ephemeral water discharge eroded aeolian sands and formed V‐shaped channels in which aeolian sandstone blocks accumulated. The incorporation of loose aeolian sand in wadi waters modified the sediment/water ratio, changing the physical properties of the flows as they penetrated the aeolian dune field. The erosion and cover of aeolian dune foresets by sheetflood deposits suggest that dune‐damming caused the intermittent ponding of water behind the dunes and its flashy release. The arid climate in the Late Pliocene western Mediterranean realm favoured the transport of windblown sediments from northern Africa and western Mediterranean land masses into the Mediterranean. The formation of the studied aeolian dune field (2·9 to 2·6 Ma) and possibly others (for example, the Atacama, Namib and Sahara deserts) correlates with a strong increase of the influence of obliquity, which can be attributed to the combination of a regional expression related to the reduced effect of precession due to a minimum in the long‐period (2·3 Ma) eccentricity cycle and a remote expression of the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation.  相似文献   

15.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(4):1301-1321
Aeolian dune fields evolve from protodunes and small dunes into a pattern of progressively fewer, larger and more widely spaced dunes within limits defined by boundary conditions. However, the allogenic boundary conditions that promote aeolian dune‐field development, accumulation of strata and preservation of accumulated strata are not the same. Autogenic processes, such as dune interactions, scour‐depth variation along migrating dunes and substrate cannibalization by growing dunes, result in removal of the stratigraphic record. Moreover, dune‐field events may be collapsed into major erosional bounding surfaces. The question is what stages of evolving dune fields are represented in the rock record? This case study of ca 60 m of Jurassic Entrada Sandstone on the Utah/Arizona border (USA) defines stratigraphic intervals by gross architecture of bounding surfaces and sets of cross‐strata. The interpreted intervals in stratigraphic order consist of: (i) a lower sabkha bed that transitions upward into erosional remnants of small sets representing an initial wet aeolian system; (ii) large, compound cross‐strata representing a mature dune field; (iii) isolated scour‐fill representing negatively climbing dunes that produced ca 25 m of palaeo‐topographic relief; (iv) downlapping sets that fill the landscape‐scale relief; (v) four intervals of stacked climbing sets that each represent short periods of time; and (vi) an upper sabkha bed that again transitions into small sets representing a wet system. Accumulations appear to be associated with sediment pulses, a rising water table, and filling of scoured troughs and landscape‐scale depressions. Preservation of the accumulations is selective and associated with a rising water table, burial and subsidence. The preserved record appears remarkably incomplete. Speculation about missing strata gravitates towards cannibalization of the record of early dune‐field construction, and strata removed during the formation of bounding surfaces. This local Entrada record is thought to represent a point in the spectrum of preservation styles in the rock record.  相似文献   

16.
The Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone represents the product of at least 12 separate aeolian erg sequences, each bounded by regionally extensive deflationary supersurfaces. Facies analysis of strata in the White Canyon area of southern Utah indicates that the preserved sequences represent erg‐centre accumulations of mostly dry, though occasionally water table‐influenced aeolian systems. Each sequence records a systematic sedimentary evolution, enabling phases of aeolian sand sea construction, accumulation, deflation and destruction to be discerned and related to a series of underlying controls. Sand sea construction is signalled by a transition from damp sandsheet, ephemeral lake and palaeosol deposition, through a phase of dry sandsheet deposition, to the development of thin, chaotically arranged aeolian dune sets. The onset of the main phase of sand sea accumulation is reflected by an upward transition to larger‐scale, ordered sets which represent the preserved product of climbing trains of sinuous‐crested transverse dunes with original downwind wavelengths of 300–400 m. Regularly spaced reactivation surfaces indicate periodic shifts in wind direction, which probably occurred seasonally. Compound co‐sets of cross strata record the oblique migration of superimposed slipfaced dunes over larger, slipfaceless draa. Each aeolian sequence is capped by a regionally extensive supersurface characterized by abundant calcified rhizoliths and bioturbation and which represents the end product of a widespread deflation episode whereby the accumulation surface was lowered close to the level of the water table as the sand sea was progressively cannibalized by winds that were undersaturated with respect to their potential carrying capacity. Aeolian sequence generation is considered to be directly attributable to cyclical changes in climate and related changes in sea level of probable glacio‐eustatic origin that characterize many Permo‐Carboniferous age successions. Sand sea construction and accumulation occurred during phases of increased aridity and lowered sea level, the main sand supply being former shallow marine shelf sediments that lay to the north‐west. Sand sea deflation and destruction would have commenced at, or shortly after, the time of maximum aridity as the available sand supply became exhausted. Restricted episodes of non‐aeolian accumulation would have occurred during humid (interglacial) phases, accumulation and preservation being enabled by slow rises in the relative water table. Subsidence analysis within the Paradox Basin, together with comparisons to other similar age successions suggests that the climatic cycles responsible for generating the Cedar Mesa erg sequences could be the product of 413 000 years so‐called long eccentricity cycles. By contrast, annual advance cycles within the aeolian dune sets indicate that the sequences themselves could have accumulated in just a few hundred years and therefore imply that the vast majority of time represented by the Cedar Mesa succession was reserved for supersurface development.  相似文献   

17.
The unique linear dunes in the northern Kumtagh Desert of northwest China have inspired enthusiastic debate among aeolian geomorphologists over their origins and classification. Their uniqueness lies not only in their morphology, but also in their geomorphological patterns. In this paper, the geomorphological patterns and ages of the linear dunes in the northern Kumtagh Desert are analyzed using the pattern analysis method that was recently adopted by geomorphologists. The analysis suggests that these linear dunes have developed since 13 ka BP, during the late part of the most recent deglaciation stage, when the region’s dry climate was favorable for dune formation. The differences in dune construction time within this region result from the complex factors that control their formation and spatial variations in the local environment, but these factors were not strong enough to prevent us from estimating the dune age recorded by the geomorphological patterns with acceptable precision. It is also suggested that the pattern analysis method can be used to estimate dune ages in the absence of more reliable dating methods.  相似文献   

18.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(4):993-1042
Reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental context of Martian sedimentary rocks is central to studies of ancient Martian habitability and regional palaeoclimate history. This paper reports the analysis of a distinct aeolian deposit preserved in Gale crater, Mars, and evaluates its palaeomorphology, the processes responsible for its deposition, and its implications for Gale crater geological history and regional palaeoclimate. Whilst exploring the sedimentary succession cropping out on the northern flank of Aeolis Mons, Gale crater, the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity encountered a decametre‐thick sandstone succession, named the Stimson formation, unconformably overlying lacustrine deposits of the Murray formation. The sandstone contains sand grains characterized by high roundness and sphericity, and cross‐bedding on the order of 1 m in thickness, separated by sub‐horizontal bounding surfaces traceable for tens of metres across outcrops. The cross‐beds are composed of uniform thickness cross‐laminations interpreted as wind‐ripple strata. Cross‐sets are separated by sub‐horizontal bounding surfaces traceable for tens of metres across outcrops that are interpreted as dune migration surfaces. Grain characteristics and presence of wind‐ripple strata indicate deposition of the Stimson formation by aeolian processes. The absence of features characteristic of damp or wet aeolian sediment accumulation indicate deposition in a dry aeolian system. Reconstruction of the palaeogeomorphology suggests that the Stimson dune field was composed largely of simple sinuous crescentic dunes with a height of ca 10 m, and wavelengths of ca 150 m, with local development of complex dunes. Analysis of cross‐strata dip azimuths indicates that the general dune migration direction and hence net sediment transport was towards the north‐east. The juxtaposition of a dry aeolian system unconformably above the lacustrine Murray formation represents starkly contrasting palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions. Stratigraphic relationships indicate that this transition records a significant break in time, with the Stimson formation being deposited after the Murray formation and stratigraphically higher Mount Sharp group rocks had been buried, lithified and subsequently eroded.  相似文献   

19.
Relations between wind speed, sediment flux and dune morphology were measured for two reversing dunes situated in the south-western part of the Silver Peak dunefield in Clayton Valley, west-central Nevada. The larger dune was 120 m in length with a height of 12.5 m and the smaller dune 80 m long and 6 m high. Both dunes were sharp crested, aligned approximately E-W perpendicular to the dominant wind direction, and had slightly concave stoss profiles. Twenty-seven rotating cup anemometers were placed (0.3 m elevation) along N-S transects on each of the dunes. At each anemometer site a passive wedge-shaped sediment trap was used to measure sediment flux. Amplification of wind speed was observed towards the crest on the stoss side of both dunes with speed-up factors (ucrest/Ubase) ranging from 1·50–3·19, with a corresponding increase in sediment flux by 1–2 orders of magnitude. In general, the ratio of crest flux to base flux (qc/qt,) increased with increasing incident basal wind speed on both dunes. Direct measurements of the stoss slope variation in sediment flux relative to the dune crest are in good agreement with Owen's transport model. Friction speed (u) was approximated from near surface (0·3 m) point wind speed. Although not all assumptions of the Owen model are upheld, the modified model performance is sufficiently robust to predict short-term variation in stoss sediment flux on the study dunes. Improved models that adequately account for variation in sediment flux under changing air flow and transport conditions are necessary for the prediction of longterm evolution of dunes. In this regard, further progress in model development will require increased understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of airflow and the short term response of sediment flux to these flow conditions.  相似文献   

20.
The existence of a mid‐Cretaceous erg system along the western Tethyan margin (Iberian Basin, Spain) was recently demonstrated based on the occurrence of wind‐blown desert sands in coeval shallow marine deposits. Here, the first direct evidence of this mid‐Cretaceous erg in Europe is presented and the palaeoclimate and palaeoceanographic implications are discussed. The aeolian sand sea extended over an area of 4600 km2. Compound crescentic dunes, linear draa and complex aeolian dunes, sand sheets, wet, dry and evaporitic interdunes, sabkha deposits and coeval extradune lagoonal deposits form the main architectural elements of this desert system that was located in a sub‐tropical arid belt along the western Tethyan margin. Sub‐critically climbing translatent strata, grain flow and grain fall deposits, pin‐stripe lamination, lee side dune wind ripples, soft‐sediment deformations, vertebrate tracks, biogenic traces, tubes and wood fragments are some of the small‐scale structures and components observed in the aeolian dune sandstones. At the boundary between the aeolian sand sea and the marine realm, intertonguing of aeolian deposits and marine facies occurs. Massive sandstone units were laid down by mass flow events that reworked aeolian dune sands during flooding events. The cyclic occurrence of soft sediment deformation is ascribed to intermittent (marine) flooding of aeolian dunes and associated rise in the water table. The aeolian erg system developed in an active extensional tectonic setting that favoured its preservation. Because of the close proximity of the marine realm, the water table was high and contributed to the preservation of the aeolian facies. A sand‐drift surface marks the onset of aeolian dune construction and accumulation, whereby aeolian deposits cover an earlier succession of coastal coal deposits formed in a more humid period. A prominent aeolian super‐surface forms an angular unconformity that divides the aeolian succession into two erg sequences. This super‐surface formed in response to a major tectonic reactivation in the basin, and also marks the change in style of aeolian sedimentation from compound climbing crescentic dunes to aeolian draas. The location of the mid‐Cretaceous palaeoerg fits well to both the global distribution of other known Cretaceous erg systems and with current palaeoclimate data that suggest a global cooling period and a sea‐level lowstand during early mid‐Cretaceous times. The occurrence of a sub‐tropical coastal erg in the mid‐Cretaceous of Spain correlates with the exposure of carbonate platforms on the Arabian platform during much of the Late Aptian to Middle Albian, and is related to this eustatic sea‐level lowstand.  相似文献   

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