Aeolian Landforms (07. Desert Pavement )

07. Desert Pavement                                                                                                                         Back to Aeolian Landforms

• A desert pavement is a desert surface that is covered with closely packed, angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobble size.

•  It form by the gradual removal of the sand.

• Geologist, discovery some desert pavements preserve a long history of dust deposition beneath them. The dust is a record of ancient climate,  on the deep sea floor and in the world's ice caps.

• Desert pavement surfaces are coated with desert varnish (dark brown color).

• Theroy of desert pavement

                1.  Lag deposit-: The wind blew away all the fine-grained material. (Wind-blown erosion is called deflation.) 

              2. Moving water-:The finest material is splashed loose by raindrops, a thin layer of rainwater, or sheetflow, sweeps it away efficiently.

                3.The soil move stones to the top-:Two other soil processes involve the formation of ice crystals in the soil (frost heave) & salt crystals (salt heave) in places with the right temperature or chemistry.

Examples

-Joshua Tree National Park, California. 

-Mojave Desert of California.

-Utah. Desert.

 Joshua Tree National Park, California.

Mojave Desert of California