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Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2020, Vol. 12 Issue (5): 887-902    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-020-0099-1
Research article     
Morphological characteristics and dynamic changes of seif dunes in the eastern margin of the Kumtagh Desert, China
PANG Yingjun1,2,*(), WU Bo1,2, LI Yonghua1,3, XIE Shengbo4
1Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
2Key Laboratory of Desert Ecosystem and Global Change, State Administration of Forestry and Grassland, Beijing 100091, China
3Kumtagh Desert Ecosystem Research Station, State Administration of Forestry and Grassland, Dunhuang 736200, China
4Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Abstract  

The seif dune field over the gravel desert surface in the eastern margin of the Kumtagh Desert is a valuable experimental site for the observation of dune formation and dynamics. We used high-resolution remote sensing and station observation approaches, combined with wind and grain size data, to study the characteristics of the aeolian environment and the morphologies of and dynamic changes in seif dunes. We observed the ratio of the resultant drift potential (RDP) to the drift potential (DP), which was 0.37, associated with an obtuse bimodal wind regime. The drift potentials in the west-northwest (WNW) and east-northeast (ENE) directions were dominant, and the angle between the two primary DP directions was 135.00°. The dune orientations ranged from 168.75°-213.75°, which were parallel to the resultant drift direction (186.15°). The dune lengths ranged from 51.68 to 1932.11 m with a mean value of 344.91 m. The spacings of the dunes ranged from 32.34 to 319.77 m with a mean value of 93.39 m. The mean grain size of the sediments became finer, and the sorting became better from upwind tail to downwind tip, which indicated that the sediment of the seif dunes in the study region may be transported from northward to southward. The rate of increase in the length, the mean longitudinal migration rate of the dune tail, and the mean longitudinal extension rate of the dune tip (also called elongation rate) were 4.93, 4.63, and 9.55 m/a, respectively. The mean lateral migration vector of the seif dunes was approximately 0.11 m/a towards the west (-0.11 m/a), while the mean amplitude of lateral migration was 0.53 m/a, ignoring the direction of lateral migration. We found that the seif dune field formed first beside seasonal rivers, which can provide sediment, and then expanded downwind.

Key words： seif dune      Kumtagh Desert      elongation      migration      drift potential     
Received: 15 June 2019      Published: 10 September 2020
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About author: *Corresponding author: PANG Yingjun (E-mail: pangyingjun@caf.ac.cn)
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Yingjun PANG
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PANG Yingjun, WU Bo, LI Yonghua, XIE Shengbo. Morphological characteristics and dynamic changes of seif dunes in the eastern margin of the Kumtagh Desert, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 887-902.

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http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-020-0099-1     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2020/V12/I5/887

Fig. 1 Location of the study region
Fig. 2 Distribution of seif dunes in the study region
Fig. 3 Seif dunes in the study region
Fig. 4 Distributions of surface sediment sample points and the areas for topographic survey
Fig. 5 Schematic map of seif dune extension and migration measurement
Fig. 6 Drift potential (DP) roses at the eastern edge of the Kumtagh Desert. RDP, resultant drift potential; RDD, resultant drift direction.
Fig. 7 Rose diagram of the orientation of seif dunes
Fig. 8 Length (a, b) and spacing (c, d) of seif dunes
Fig. 9 Topography of different parts of seif dunes
Fig. 10 Height profile of typical cross sections (W1, W2, W3, W4, W5, W6, W7, W8 and W9 are the codes of typical cross sections)
Fig. 11 Morphology in different parts of seif dune
Fig. 12 Grain composition of dune surface sediment: pebbles (-2 to -6 Φ); granules (-1 to -2 Φ); very coarse sand (0 to -1 Φ); coarse sand (1 to 0 Φ); medium sand (2 to 1 Φ); fine sand (3 to 2 Φ); very fine sand (4 to 3 Φ); silt and clay (>4 Φ)
Fig. 13 Grain size parameters of dune surface sediment
Fig. 14 Migration and elongation of seif dunes
Seif dune ID Length (m) Increase in length (m) Longitudinal migration of dune tail (m) Longitudinal extension of dune tip (m) Lateral migration vector* (m) Lateral migration amplitude** (m)
1965 2015
1 289.27 458.26 168.98 195.36 362.08 -46.85 46.85
2 842.38 960.71 118.34 66.61 194.21 -31.77 31.77
3 148.67 361.56 212.89 243.68 456.77 - -
4 397.77 612.34 214.57 95.66 331.89 -2.56 2.83
5 472.92 917.71 444.79 21.78 467.54 -16.85 18.78
6 793.50 1189.43 395.93 106.84 499.97 -17.01 22.65
7 785.12 1255.13 470.01 112.95 575.07 4.48 6.05
8 1388.85 1725.36 336.51 80.36 405.16 30.45 31.43
9 231.00 231.41 0.41 418.43 418.76 - -
10 370.56 474.96 104.40 369.63 473.88 -19.89 19.89
11 555.96 878.57 322.61 403.82 729.89 -52.19 52.19
12 1177.36 1604.89 427.53 276.56 703.24 29.56 30.40
13 563.12 836.10 272.98 311.18 581.13 -20.88 20.88
14 890.57 895.20 4.63 381.41 380.23 29.48 29.87
15 1032.80 1081.72 48.91 443.36 484.82 49.06 49.06
16 415.13 819.21 404.08 177.81 574.73 -10.13 11.64
Mean (m) 647.19 893.91 246.72 231.59 477.46 -5.36 26.74
Rate (m/a) - - 4.93 4.63 9.55 -0.11 0.53
Table 1 Elongation and migration of seif dunes
Fig. 15 Formation process of seif dunes in the study region
Fig. 16 Seif dunes over the gravel desert surface in the eastern margin of the Kumtagh Desert (Pang, 2016) (a), and raked linear dunes in the northern Kumtagh Desert (George, 2006) (b)
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