DESERT DEPOSITIONAL FEATURES

In terms of the depositional features found in a desert, the majority of links refer to those deserts that are hot and consist of sand and other fine materials.

From what I have gathered, there is only one depositional feature which is sand dunes. Makes sense seeing as there is next to nothing in these deserted lands.

So there may only be one depositional feature that can be found in these regions however there are many types of dunes of which some move and others are fixed:

• Live dunes – These dunes move frequently and their shapes vary. These are dependent on the speed the wind is depositing or removing sands and the size of the materials being transported.     

• And fixed dunes – These dunes tend not to move and their shapes tend not to change. These dunes are secured down by vegetation and opposing winds.

The several types of dunes are:

Barchans – A curved, arc shaped sand mound with horns facing downwind formed in arid regions.

Parabolic – These are U-shaped mounds that form in the reverse direction of a barchans. They consist of sand tails which may hold vegetation

Blowout

Traverse – these are horizontal to the prevailing wind, and form a wave like pattern

Longitudinal – also known as Seif dunes, stretch parallel to the prevailing wind with rounded or pointed tops. These can reach 300m in height and range up to 300km in length.

Blowout – These are most commonly found on beaches, where the winds are travelling in the same direction creating causing a mound of sand to be hollowed out on the windward side of the mound.

Star – These dunes are mounds that are subject to different wind directions, forming their star-like pyramidal structure.

Star dune

Other terms:

Loess – This is the lightest material carried by the winds which form a so-called blanket covering the existing land. This blanket is easily eroded and rain penetrates through them rapidly. 

A useful, detailed website with great examples of deserts and dunes can be found is: http://www.indiana.edu/~geol116/Week11/wk11.htm. This link even covers glaciers as well which may be useful when looking at my older posts.

Links:

http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/mcallip/Deserts/desert_deposit_features.htm

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1300/deserts.html