Clay Dunes: Their occurrence, formation and environmental significance

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

Dunes which contain a large percentage of clay develop under restricted environmental conditions forming aceolian accumulation with distinctive sedimentary and morphologic characteristics. Along the margins of drying salt flats, sand-sized aggregates of clay minerals are formed by the efflorescence of salts or by the mechanical disintegration of mud curls. The resultant pellets, when blown to the vegetated margin, may be trapped and accumulate into a dune. With the onset of cool or moist conditions, the clays hygroscopically absorb moisture; the seasonal increment of pellets is thereby stabilised. This results in a low-angle, layer-by-layer addition over the dune surface producing parallel bedding different from that in more common aeolian deposits. The pellets travel on to the dune as a thin rippled layer; sand-slip faces rarely develop and so avalanche and cross-set bedding are usually absent. Topographically, clay dunes possess low-angle slopes (rarely exceeding 15°) the steeper of which usually forms the windward side. Because of rapid stabilisation, they do not migrate from the source but form transverse ridges following the salt-flat margin. Active clay dunes occur on the margins of coastal lagoons in Texas and on the west coast of Africa in Senegal, while inland occurrences are recorded from sebkha margins in Algeria. Inactive dunes occur widely throughout southern Australia on the eastern margins of Pleistocene lake basins. Their formation requires a combination of factors including; (1) the presence of a shallow saline water body with seasonally exposed marginal mud flats, and; (2) strong and preferably unidirectional winds coinciding with a hot dry season. Because these various factors must have coincided to permit their formation, relic clay dunes provide important evidence for reconstructing palaeo-environments.

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