When we go on an excursion to natural environments or when we travel by road we find landscapes that have been and are modeled by erosive processes. Erosion produces a modification on the earth’s surface, wearing and deteriorating it. There are different types of erosion being some more aggressive than others. The types of erosion that can be given are: wind, water and gravitational, without leaving behind erosion by anthropic action that is given by the activities of human beings and not by natural elements such as the previous ones.
In this article of ecology, we will focus only on a type of erosion. Specifically, we will know in more detail the wind erosion, its definition, types and examples.
What is wind erosion – Simple definition
Etymologically the word wind is derived from “eol”, god of the wind. When we talk about wind erosion we refer to those deterioration or degradation processes that are given by the wind action And so They modify the relief of the earth’s crust.
This type of erosion is less aggressive than water erosion, it is also slow and requires vegetation -free soils so that it does not stop the erosive action of the wind. It occurs in areas with large temperature fluctuations, this helps the rocks break and, thus, the wind acts more effectively on them. High mountain and desert areas are affected by the wind or wind erosionlike vegetation free zones, that is, bare soils. Since, if the territory was populated with vegetation, the erosive action of the wind would be slowed down by vegetation and would be much milder or null.
Wind Erosion Types – Winding Processes
Wind erosion is divided into 3 stagesin which there are 2 main types of wind erosion or wind processes:
1. Erosion process
Within erosive action they manifest Two processes or types of wind erosion:
- Wind erosion by abrasion: The wind transports elements such as sand, which cuts and polishes the rocky surface that is exposed, generating wind models on the surface. This process generates some characteristic forms in the rocks which are known as ventifacts, yardangs, taffonis and fungiform rocks.
- Wind erosion by Defflation: The air blows and sweeps, drag or lift the particles found on the floor. Thus, there are three types of deflation or transport (which we explain below): skiing, suspension and bearing or drag. With this type of wind erosion, in the end the desert pavement is given and three types of desert can be formed: reg or stony, erg or sandy and, finally, rocky or mountainous.
2. Transport
There are three ways in which the wind can transport the particles, one of them is drag or bearingin which large particles are transported from 500 to 2000 µm. This The jumping that transports the medium particles that go from 100 to 500 µm and also The suspension which transports smaller particles under 100 µm.
3. Sedimentation
In this process, the particles transported by the wind fall into sand deposits called dunes. This occurs for the loss of wind energy. Depending on the direction in which the wind is going, sedimentation is in favor of the wind, windward and sedimentation that goes in the direction contrary to seeing, leeward. Learn more about this topic in this other article about what sedimentation is.
Examples of wind erosion: dunes
The formation of a dune depends on the energy of the wind, the amount of sand, the presence or absence of vegetation and the direction in which the wind is directed. So they can be identified as Examples of wind erosion the following Types of dunes:
- Transversal dunes: The areas where this type of dune is formed has a large amount of sand and the ground is absent from vegetation
- Longitudinal dunes: This type of dune is parallel to the wind. They are usually large dunes. We can find them in Australia, in Africa and the United States in Arizona and California.
- Parabolic dunes: They are characterized by suddenly, if we look at them from above we will see that they are invested “U”, formed by two arms that join forming a top. It presents two earrings, an internal in the direction that goes the wind, and an external in the direction contrary to the wind.
- Barjanes: In the formation of this type of dune the wind is directed in one direction and the amount of sand is limited. It has a crescent shape, looking like the parabolic, although in the barjanes the top progresses slower than the arms. They can be found in Baja California and Sonora.
- Star dunes: As the name implies, they are called a star dune since it is characterized by having several radial arms and the wind that shapes them is constantly changing. They are found in areas with a lot of sand and remain fixed.
If this information on wind erosion has been useful and you want to learn more, we recommend you enter our article on the types of erosion that exist.
If you want to read more articles similar to Wind erosion: definition, types and exampleswe recommend that you enter our category of other environment.
