Aeolian Landform (09Ventifact)

09. Ventifact                                                                                                                                               Back to Aeolian Landforms

• Ventifacts are rocks;

                                  -abraded

                                 - pitted

                                  -etched

                                  -groove

•  These are polished by;

                                   -wind

                                  -sand

                                  -ice crystals.

Altiplano region of Bolivia 

• Venitifacts found in arid environments with aeolian particle transport.

• Ventifacts can be abraded to eye-catching natural sculptures.

•  There are;

                         - tall.
                         -isolated rock outcrops.

                        - mushroom shaped pillars.

•  The outcrop is eroded by saltating sand grains. 

• This happening because,strong winds, sand grains.&  continuously held in the air.

•  These particles bounce along the ground, rarely reaching higher than a few feet above the earth.

Atacama Province, Chile

• Bouncing sand grains can erode the lower portions of a ventifact, while leaving a larger less eroded cap. lastly it seems fantastic stone mushrooms.

• Individual stones, forming desert pavement, with grooved, etched, or polished surfaces.

 Mojave Desert near Barstow, California

Dolly Sods, West Virginia, USA