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Wind Erosion and Dune Formation on High Frozen BluffsFrost penetration increases upslope on barren, windswept bluffs in cold environments. Along the south shore of Lake Superior, near the brow of 100 m high bluffs it typically exceeds 5 m. Frost increases the shear strength of damp sand to a level comparable to that of concrete, making winter slopes highly stable despite undercutting by waves and ground-water sapping along the footslope. Sublimation of interparticle ice in the slope face increases with wind speed and lower vapor pressures. The cold and dry winter winds of Lake Superior ablate these slopes through loss of binding ice. Wind erosion rates, based on measurements of sand accumulation on the forest floor downwind of the brow, show most airborne sand falls out within several meters of the brow, forming a berm 1 to 3 m high after many years. The spatial pattern of sand deposition, however, varies considerably over distances of several hundred meters along the top bluffs in response to frost conditions and the build-up of gravel lag on the slope face, sand exposure from mass movements, and local aerodynamics of the crest slope. The formation of perched sand dunes in the Great Lakes region is clearly related to wind erosion of sand from high bluffs in winter. Broadly similar processes may operate on Mars.
Document ID
19840015425
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other - Other
Authors
Marsh, W. M.
(Michigan Univ. Flint, MI, United States)
Marsh, B. D.
(ns hopkins univ. baltimore) penetration , United States)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1984
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Washington Rept. of Planetary Geol. Programs
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
84N23493
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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