Nature 283, 372 - 373 (24 January 1980); doi:10.1038/283372a0

Wind velocities determined from the surface textures of sand grains

David Krinsley & William Wellendorf

Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281

Krinsley and Smalley¹ suggested that 'upturned plates', a surface texture that is represented on quartz sand surfaces by a series of thin parallel plates, either continuous or discontinuous parallel to r(10¯11) and z(01¯11), cause the frosting observed on desert sand grains. As these plates depend on the extent of physical abrasion², the spacing between individual plates might be related to the velocity of the wind which last transported the grains. The technique described here attempts to relate experimental and modern aeolian sand grain surface textures to wind velocity via scanning electron microscopy (SEM)³.

References

1.	Krinsley, D. & Smalley, I. Am. Scient. 60, 286 (1972). | ISI |
2.	Krinsley, D. & Takahashi, T. Science 135, 923 (1962). | ISI |
3.	Margolis, S. & Krinsley, D. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 82, 3395 (1971).
4.	Krinsley, D., Greeley, R. & J. Icarus 39, 364 (1979). | Article |
5.	Kuenen, Ph. & Perdock, W. J. Geol. 70, 648 (1962). | ISI |
6.	Landsberg, P. World Survey of Climatology, Climates of Africa, 10 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1972).
7.	Beadnell, H. Geogr. J. 35, 379 (1910).
8.	Bagnold, R. The Physics of Wind Blown Sand and Desert Dunes (Chapman and Hall, London, 1941).
9.	Sagan, C., Pieri, D. & Fox, P. J. geophys. Res. 82, 4430 (1977).
10.	Glennie, K. Desert Sedimentary Environments (Elsevier, London, 1970).
11.	Kosel, T., Scattergood, R. & Turner, A. 9th int. Congr. Electron Microscopy 1, 584 (1978). | ChemPort |