Most studies of active aeolian processes on Mars have focused on dust [1], i.e., particles -1 [tm in diameter that are transported in suspension by wind. The presence of sand dunes on Mars [2-8] indicates that larger grains ( >60 _tm, transported primarily in saltation) are also present. Although indirect evidence suggests that some dunes may be active [9], definitive evidence is lacking. Nonet...

Wind erosion is considered a major global environmental problem. Dust storms from the migration of sand dunes can seriously damage civil, industrial, and agricultural areas and a method to stabilize these sand dunes is mulching. The present study investigates the feasibility of using organic wastes of Press mud and Dunder with clay for the production of environmentally-friendly mulches. Sandy s...

Insect prey of the Namib golden mole congregate beneath clumps of grass scattered among the sand dunes of the Namib Desert. In the presence of the light winds that typically blow over the Namib Desert, these grass clumps emit low-amplitude vibrations that are transmitted through the sand. While foraging in the sand-swimming mode (a few centimeters below the surface of the sand), some moles appa...

Where bedforms migiate during deposition, they move upward (climb) with respect to the generalized sediment surface. Sediment deposited on each lee slope and not eroded during the passage of a following trough is left behind as a cross-stratified bed. Because sediment is thus transferred from bedforms to underlying strata, bedforms must decrease in cross-sectional area or in number, or both, un...

The backshore zone is transitional environment strongly affected by ocean, air and sand movements. On dissipative beaches, the formation of ephemeral dunes over the backshore zone plays significant contribution in the beach morphodynamics and sediment budget. The aim of this work is to describe a novel method to identify ephemeral dunes in the backshore region and to discuss their morphodynamic...

Horqin Sandy Land is a fragile, seriously desertified region located in Inner Mongolia of China. Overgrazing is one of the primary drivers of desertification in this region. We investigated whether the establishment of grazing exclosures in areas with active sand dunes enhances soil carbon (C) sequestration and benefits soil recovery. The results showed that soil organic C storage was 1.4, 1.9,...

The spatio-temporal evolution of a downsized model for a desert dune is observed experimentally in a narrow water flow channel. A particle tracking method reveals that the migration speed of the model dune is one order of magnitude smaller than that of individual grains. In particular, the erosion rate consists of comparable contributions from creeping (low-energy) and saltating (high-energy) p...