| Research Articles |
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| Quantitative analysis on the dynamic characteristics of megadunes around the Crescent Moon Spring, China |
| YingJun PANG1,2, JianJun QU1,2,3, KeCun ZHANG1,2,3, ZhiShan AN1,2,3, QingHe NIU1,2,3 |
1 Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;
2 Dunhuang Gobi and Desert Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dunhuang 736200, China;
3 Gansu Center for Sand Hazard Reduction Engineering and Technology, Lanzhou 730000, China |
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Abstract The Crescent Moon Spring is a precious natural heritage. However, the dynamic characteristics of megadunes around the Crescent Moon Spring are not well known. This paper quantitatively studied the character-istics and changes of megadunes around the Crescent Moon Spring by interpreting aerial photographs taken in 1985 and 2004 and analysing the dune crestlines and the wind data collected from 2011 to 2012. Results revealed that pyramid dunes were formed by a complex wind regime. The Crescent Moon Spring was not buried by shifting sands because of the stable wind regime and relative stability of pyramid dunes. The crestlines of the dunes around the spring moved northward between 1985 and 2004. The south-facing slip faces were also exposed to wind ero-sion, whereas the other faces were under deposition, thus indicating that the southerly wind was relatively en-hanced. Limiting the scale of tall windbreaks and architectures in the Dunhuang oasis at the north of the spring was necessary to maintain the dynamic equilibrium of the wind regime and sand transport.
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Received: 06 May 2013
Published: 10 June 2014
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| Fund: The National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2013BAC07B02), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41071009), and the West Light Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (29Y128841). |
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Corresponding Authors:
JianJun QU
E-mail: qujianj@lzb.ac.cn
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