The dynamism of salt crust patterns on playas
The dynamism of salt crust patterns on playas
Playas are common in arid environments and can be major sources of mineral dust that can influence global climate. These landforms typically form crusts that limit evaporation and dust emission, modify surface erosivity and erodibility, and can lead to over prediction or under prediction of (1) dust-emission potential and (2) water and heat fluxes in energy balance modeling. Through terrestrial laser scanning measurements of part of the Makgadikgadi Pans of Botswana (a Southern Hemisphere playa that emits significant amounts of dust), we show that over weeks, months, and a year, the shapes of these surfaces change considerably (ridge thrusting of >30 mm/week) and can switch among continuous, ridged, and degraded patterns. Ridged pattern development changes the measured aerodynamic roughness of the surface (as much as 3 mm/week). The dynamic nature of these crusted surfaces must be accounted for in dust entrainment and moisture balance formulae to improve regional and global climate models.
31-34
Nield, Joanna M.
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Bryant, Robert G.
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Wiggs, Giles F.S.
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King, James
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Thomas, David S.G.
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Eckardt, Frank D.
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Washington, Richard
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1 January 2015
Nield, Joanna M.
173be2c5-b953-481a-abc4-c095e5e4b790
Bryant, Robert G.
b6405ac1-d101-4921-ac6a-3ae02940493e
Wiggs, Giles F.S.
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King, James
12837388-21db-49a1-b806-5c46fd9afac6
Thomas, David S.G.
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Eckardt, Frank D.
7110a4b9-5338-48be-a1f4-f3b85b47c37b
Washington, Richard
9c257ee6-a5ec-4c1f-b977-efef444901a2
Nield, Joanna M., Bryant, Robert G., Wiggs, Giles F.S., King, James, Thomas, David S.G., Eckardt, Frank D. and Washington, Richard
(2015)
The dynamism of salt crust patterns on playas.
Geology, 43 (1), .
(doi:10.1130/G36175.1).
Abstract
Playas are common in arid environments and can be major sources of mineral dust that can influence global climate. These landforms typically form crusts that limit evaporation and dust emission, modify surface erosivity and erodibility, and can lead to over prediction or under prediction of (1) dust-emission potential and (2) water and heat fluxes in energy balance modeling. Through terrestrial laser scanning measurements of part of the Makgadikgadi Pans of Botswana (a Southern Hemisphere playa that emits significant amounts of dust), we show that over weeks, months, and a year, the shapes of these surfaces change considerably (ridge thrusting of >30 mm/week) and can switch among continuous, ridged, and degraded patterns. Ridged pattern development changes the measured aerodynamic roughness of the surface (as much as 3 mm/week). The dynamic nature of these crusted surfaces must be accounted for in dust entrainment and moisture balance formulae to improve regional and global climate models.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 1 January 2015
Published date: 1 January 2015
Organisations:
Earth Surface Dynamics
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Local EPrints ID: 372610
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/372610
ISSN: 0091-7613
PURE UUID: a25b39a9-e69f-43cc-86a6-ce27468b87d3
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Date deposited: 09 Dec 2014 16:42
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:29
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Contributors
Author:
Robert G. Bryant
Author:
Giles F.S. Wiggs
Author:
James King
Author:
David S.G. Thomas
Author:
Frank D. Eckardt
Author:
Richard Washington
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