WIND DEPOSITIONAL

AEOLIAN
LANDFORMS.

Presented by :
Mughani Phucho
ESM0518
 AEOLIAN
LANDFORMS
• Landforms which are developed by wind in desert areas of
the world.
• Wind action moves mineral particles when they are in dry
state and unprotected by vegetation cover.
• Desert and semi-desert regions,as well as on sandy
shorelines.
• Created by erosional and depositional process.
• Wind velocity increases rapidly with height.
AEOLIAN DEPOSITION
• The particles carried away by blowing winds begin to
deposit at the place where velocity of wind is reduced to a
considerable extent.
• The variation in the size and shape of wind formed deposit is
guided by the amount of material deposited, grain
size,velocity and direction of wind and altitude of the place
of deposits.
• Two charecteristic forms- Loess and Sand dunes.
 1.LOESS

• Fine dust particles deposited in big masses or sheets are known

as loess.
• Typically yellowish brown,composed mostly of silt-size grains of
quartz, feldspar and clay. A rich, dust-like soil.
• 10% Earth’s land covered by loess or similar deosits.
• China- greatest deposits of loess, thickness-Over 100ft(30 m)
are common and max.- 300ft(90m) has been measured.
• Covers parts of Gobi desert of Central Asia and Mississippi
valley in US.
• Also found in Argentina,Centrsl Europe and New Zealand.
 LOESS
DEPOSITS
 2.SAND DUNES
• Coarser particle deposited in hillocks.
• May be active when there is no vegetation
and constantly keep changing under wind
currents.
• May be inactive or fixed dunes when area is
covered by vegetation.
• Most likely to develop in areas with strong
winds that generally blow in same direction.
• Formed when any kind of obstacles,i.e, bush,
rise in ground, skeleton of animals or house
is found to break the velocity of wind.
• Reduction in velocity led to dropping of
transported material.
 TYPES OF DUNES
• Tends to develop certain
characteristics shapes,
depending on wind velocity
and direction, sand supply
available,and how
vegetation cover, if any, is
distributed.
A.BARCHAN DUNES

• Also known as crescent dunes.

• Barchan-derived from the desert of turkey.
• Crescent shaped,horn pointing in direction of wind.
• Develop best where wind is constant and of moderate
velocity.
• Concave in leeward,convex in windward.
• Formed from unidirectional wind.
B.LONGITUDINAL DUNES

• Also called seif dunes(from Arabic for “sword”) are

long,parallel ridges of sand, results from two slightly
different wind directions.
• Develop where strong prevailing wind converge and blow
over areas having lomited supply of sand.
• Occupy vast areas of Central Australia called Sand ridge
desert.
 C.TRANSVERSE
DUNES
• Long assymetrical dunes that
form perpendicular to wind
direction.
• Constant wind direction and
large sand supply.
• Usually covers large areas
known as sand seas,so called
because the waveloke dunes
produce a surface resembing a
stormy sea.
D.PARABOLIC DUNES
• Develop along coastlines
where vegetation partly
covers a ridge of
windblown sand
ttansported landward from
the beach where
vegetation is absent, small
deflation basins are
ptoduced by strong
onshore winds.
 E.STAR DUNES
• Mound of sand having high central point from where
three,four areas or ridges radiate.
 REFERENCE

• Contemporary physical geography- Nater Singh Raina.

• An introduction to physical cjemostry- Nizammudin Khan
• Linkedin.com