关键词: 库木塔格沙漠, 羽毛状沙丘, 形成机理

Abstract: Kumtag Desert, like a fan, covers on the inclined plain in front of Altun Mountain. There distributes many kinds of complex sand dunes, among which feather-shaped sand ridge is the unique sand form in China. The literatures on the formation and development mechanism of feather-shaped sand ridge are scarce in recent ten years. The authors has conducted field observation, aerial photograph interpretation and simulation experiment in wind tunnel, it was found out that the forming factors of feather-shaped sand ridge are as follows: ① extensive inclined plain, ② non-abundant sand materials on surface, ③ winds in two similar directions as dynamic condition, ④ tongue-liked sand dune is the sub-form of barchan sand ridge. Both tongue-liked sand dune and barchan sand ridge combine the feather-shaped sand ridge. The developing process of feather-shaped sand ridge can be summarized as the follow stages: barchan sand dune→barchan sand ridge→tongue-liked sand dune→feather-shaped sand ridge.

Key words: Kumtag Desert, feather-shaped sand ridge, formation mechanism