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JOURNAL OF DESERT RESEARCH  2013, Vol. 33 Issue (2): 313-319    DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-694X.2013.00044
Desert and Desertification     
Gravel Cover of Gobi Desert and Its Significance for Wind Erosion: An experimental study
WANG Xun-ming, LANG Li-li, HUA Ting, ZHANG Cai-xia, WANG Zhen-ting
Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Abstract  

Coverage of gravels plays a major role in sand transport and dust emission in extremely arid gobi deserts. Covering surfaces with gravels is often utilized as important sand-controlling technique. Using intact samples of gobi surfaces, we conducted wind tunnel experiments and related analyses to describe the gravel cover of the gobi desert and its significance for wind erosion. Results show that after loose particles on the gobi surfaces have been removed, due to differences of surface materials and their structures, there are high variations for sand transport in different sites and there are no significant correlations between gravel cover and intensity of wind erosion. However, after gravel cover and sand transport data have been normalized, the intensity of wind erosion increased with increasing gravel cover. When gravel cover was less than 40%, the coefficient of variation of the sand transport resulted from wind velocity variations are about two-folds of that under the gravel cover variations. Because in most gobi deserts the gravel cover is less than 40%, these results suggest that increasing gravel cover cannot restrain wind erosion. The low gravel cover in the Alxa Gobi may be one of the important factors for it to become the potential dust source area in Central Asia.

Key words:  wind activity      gobi desert      gravel      cover      intensity of wind erosion     
Published:  20 March 2013
ZTFLH:  X169  

Cite this article: 

WANG Xun-ming, LANG Li-li, HUA Ting, ZHANG Cai-xia, WANG Zhen-ting. Gravel Cover of Gobi Desert and Its Significance for Wind Erosion: An experimental study. JOURNAL OF DESERT RESEARCH, 2013, 33(2): 313-319.

URL: 

http://www.desert.ac.cn/EN/10.7522/j.issn.1000-694X.2013.00044     OR     http://www.desert.ac.cn/EN/Y2013/V33/I2/313

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