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Lecture 9: Desert Features and Landforms

Wind and Pressure Systems
- The Earth’s wind system is driven by pressure difference from place to
place
- Low pressure system are much more buoyant and forces air to rise which
leads to rainfall
- High pressure system has no or little rainfall
- Global pressure belts
o Equatorial low pressure (0-20 degrees latitude)
 Hot or warm air that is forced to rise
 Condenses to form rain and so they are characterized by
dense vegetation and heavy rainfall
o Subtropical high pressure (25-35 degrees latitude)
 Characterized by cold air mass or cooler air mass, which is
denser and forced to the surface of the Earth, results in low
rainfall
 By doing so, it compresses the air on the surface of the
Earth making it hot or warm
 Many deserts are formed along the latitude of 30 degrees
north and south of the equator, a zone formed by high
pressure systems which forces air to descend and create
complications in the upper atmosphere
 Resulting in lower rainfall
 Where there is a cold current, the nearby land will be a
desert
 Warm air mass brings a lot of rainfall, cold air is dry
conditions
o Sub-arctic low pressure (45-65 degrees latitude)
o Polar high (beyond 70 degrees latitude)

Why do Deserts Exist?

Latitudinal location
- Many deserts are formed along the latitude of 30 degrees north and south
of the equator
- Forces air to descend and create complication in the upper atmosphere
- High pressure systems bring no or little rainfall
- Many of the deserts are formed on this latitude
Rain shadow desert
- Formed on the leeward side of the mountain
- Moisture bearing wind systems that blow from the Indian Ocean and often
intercepted by the Himalayas
- Rains heavily on the windward side of the Himalayas, whereas the
leeward side has no or little rainfall
- Often characterized by the low rainfall, dry conditions and grass
vegetation

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Interior deserts
- Influenced by cold ocean currents
- Brings low rainfall
Desert Landforms
Desert lake or playa lake
- If too much rainfall occurs in the lakes, it becomes devoid of water
- May cover a wide area but it is never deep
- Most water evaporates leaving behind a layer of salt or the dry depression
- If water is found in a depression, it is called a desert lake
Flash floods
- Found in deserts after intense or heavy precipitation
- Rainfall is sudden, intense or run over compacted soil
Pediments
- Veneer size layer of rocks and stones
- Overlying features are pushing beneath, the underlying rocks
- Desert pavement: all stones that are left behind and the rest are blown by
the wind
- Small stones are left behind forming a broad gently sloping surface
- There are particles too big to be airborne and form a sheet or veneer layer
Bajadas
- Loose sediments eroded from the valley horse and deposited in the low
lying area
- Gently sloping depositional feature which extends outward from the base
of mountains
- Different “alluvia fan” (loose particle of sand) will converge into a broad
lane, gently smoothening
o Alluvia fan is different from pediment

Desert Features
Mesa
- Flat land “table tops”
- Smaller flat land that is detached from a mainland due to a lateral erosion
of rivers
- A flat top mountains shaped like a table
Plateau
- Flat land “table tops”
- Broad and elevated
- Has a continuous area coverage
Butte
- Flat land “table tops”
- The smallest steep, flat top hill which is separated from the mainland
Pinnacle
- Spire, sharp pointed hill, looks like the tip of the soil
- The Pinnacle Desert, one of Australia’s best known landscapes
- One of the features that is found in the Australian desert
- Series of hard and resistant rock which is left behind after wind erosion

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- The ones that remain are hard and resistant to erosion, the others are soft
and resistant
Yardangs
- Win abraded ridge found in a desert environment
- Converse/gently sloping
- Left behind after erosion
- Known as the hull-shaped where the steep face in the windward direction
and the gentle face is the leeward side
- Leeward side is gently sloping
- With constant wind motion, the loose materials are carried by the wind
- It is possible to have a series of yardangs in the desert area
- If you have two yardangs, the land in between will be soft and easily
erodible, erode vertically, mixed between hard eroded rock and soft rock
- Rock pedestal: rocks formed by win “eddies” (mushroom shaped rock) – a
wind system closer to the ground and once it strikes into the bases, it
diverts outward and creates an erosion
- Hard resistant rocks and soft rocks are arranged horizontally
Loess
- A sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, equal parts of
sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate

Wind Erosion and Transportation

Deflation
- Loose sediments are lifted and carried by wind and transported from one
location to another
- Very light sediments are easily eroded
- Wind uses its sheer force or velocity to life, loosen unconsolidated
particles from the surface and transports them to a new location
- Water creates a bond between two particles
- A bit of water and vegetation can impede deflation
Abrasion
- Sediments that are transported by wind, held against rock surfaces as
particles collide with rocks chip and peel loose sediments
- This results in the formation of ventifact (a rock with small holes) which
has small depressions, constant bombardment of particles
Wind transportation
- Loose sediments can be lifted and transported by wind systems
- Suspension, very find particle can be airborne
Dust storm
- Dust bow
- What do you do if you have lots of dust coming at 75km/hr
o Cover your face and eyes
o Can hide under a overhanging rock or cave
- Chatter mark: chipping of a bedrock surface by rock fragments carried in
the base of a glacier

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Depositional Landforms
Sand dunes
- Barchan dunes
o Crescent shaped dunes
o Has two edges in direction of prevailing wind that are formed by 1
single obstacle which occurs in the path of the prevailing wind
o Has a gently sloping surface which rises to the crust and a slip face
which is steep
o Suspension is a major transportation in the desert
o Saltim: a kind of movement of sediment that is slightly heavier than
powdery sediment
 Once they’re airborne, it will be airborne for a short distance
 Based on the strength of the wind
 As it moves upward, it begins to curve down
 Move from higher point to lower point before being deposited
on the surface
o Traction: stones and rocks that are too heavy to be airborne that
are pushed and tossed over the surface
o Dunes: mount or ridges of sediment deposits
- Transverse dunes
o Large fields of dunes that resemble sand ripples on a large scale
o Regions of sediment deposits which are arranged perpendicular to
the direction of the prevailing wind
o Ripples are at face of the prevailing wind
- Parabolic dunes
o Also called blowout
o U shaped dunes
o Often occurs when two obstacles intersect sediment which are
transported by wind, can be the dead carcass of a desert animal,
tree stump
o Bearing is the opposite to the direction of the prevailing wind
- Longitudinal dunes
o Also known as linear dunes
o Long straight dunes
o Mounts or ridges of sediments that runs parallel to the direction of
the prevailing wind
o Ex. Longest one is Rub Al Khali (Arabic word for empty quarters)
and it is approximately 560,000 square km
- Star dunes
o Dunes with several arms and variable slip faces
o Mounts of sediments deposited which are formed by changes in
direction of wind and seasonal pattern of wind
- Dome

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