• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.93-104
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• 2016

High school textbooks of world geography show geomorphic featuresin arid environments such as sand dune, yardang and ventifact which are largely created by aeolian processes. Desert pavements, ubiquitous armored surfaces composed of a mosaic of clasts in hot and arid regions, are introduced as a major landform which can be attributed to wind erosion. However, they are formed by a variety of processes including deflation, surface runoff, upward clast migration and dust accretion that cause coarse particles concentration at the surface. The deflation by wind leaving a lag of coarse clasts has been solely regarded at home, even though the classical mechanism of deflation has been evaluated as a relatively unimportant process of pavement formation abroad through empiricalstudies. The accretionary model is gaining wider acceptance, thus implying that desert pavements could be formed through deposition of aeolian material. In addition, sheetflood and upward migration of clasts, irrelevant to the aeolian processes, could also create stone pavements. As a consequence, the deflation process in high school textbooks has to be urgently modified into a range of processes including aeolian mantling. By stressing that desert pavements are an exceptional geomorphic feature in deserts where wind is a predominant geomorphic agent, they can be used as a good example to demonstrate that a landform is not monogenetic.

• 한국가시화정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.11-16
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• 2005

Saltation is the most important mechanism of wind-blown sand transport. Till now the interaction between wind and sand has not been fully understood. In this study the saltation of sand sample taken from Taklimakan desert was tested in a simulated atmospheric boundary layer. The captured particle images containing both the tracers for wind and saltating sand, were separated by a digital phase mask technique. Both PIV and PTV methods were employed to extract the velocity fields of wind and the dispersed sand particles, respectively. The mean streamwise wind velocity field and turbulent statistics with and without sand transportation were compared, revealing the effect of the moving sand on the wind field. This study is helpful to understand the interaction between wind and blown sand (in saltation), and provide reliable experimental data fur evaluating numerical models.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.40 no.6 s.111
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• pp.694-715
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• 2005

I examine in this paper the change of land use and the development of desertification in Horqin desert, east Inner Mongolia, China. The change of land use in this area can be summarized as the increase of agricultural field and intensive livestock farming. The agriculture and livestock farming in semi-arid area such as Horqin desert raised the problem in the management and use of water and vegetation. This problem led to desertification. The types of development of desertification in this area could be classified as follows: the mobile sand dune extension, the riverside shifting sand flat extension, the shifting sand speck extension around settlements, and the shifting sand speck extension in agricultural Held and grassland. There have been political or social movements such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Reform and Open Policy in the background of land use change and desertification. Specially, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution played an important role in the land use change and desertification in this area. Since 1990s, there has been some kind of policy in the control of desertification. However, it is necessary for the controling desertification of this area to consider the globalization and marketization, the survival and profit of peasants and livestock farmers, and the disturbrd and fixed population and land use structure in this area since 1949.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2008

In order to fully understand the chemical properties of Asian dust particles, especially their transformation and aging processes, it is desirable to investigate the nature of original sands collected at local source areas in China. This study presents the detailed properties of sands collected at four different desert regions (Yinchuan, Wuwei, Dulan, and Yanchi) in China. Most of sands have irregular shape with yellowish coloration, whereas some of them show peculiar colors. The relative size distribution of sands collected at Yinchuan, Wuwei, and Dulan deserts exhibits monomodal with the maximum level between 200 and $300{\mu}$, whereas that of Yanchi desert is formed between 100 and $200{\mu}$. The mass concentration ratio of each element to that of Si (Z/Si) determined by PIXE analysis has a tendency towards higher Z/Si ratios for soil derived elements. It was possible to visually reconstruct the elemental maps on the surface of individual sands by XRF microprobe technique. In addition, the multielemental mass concentration could be quantitatively calculated for numerous spots of desert sands.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.75-90
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• 2023

Turbulent wind flow over hilly terrains has been extensively investigated in the scientific literature and main findings have been included in technical standards. In particular, turbulent wind flow over nominally two-dimensional hills is often adopted as a benchmark to investigate wind turbine siting, estimate wind loading, and dispersion of particles transported by the wind, such as atmospheric pollutants, wind-driven rain, windblown snow. Windblown sand transport affects human-built structures and natural ecosystems in sandy desert and coastal regions, such as transport infrastructures and coastal sand dunes. Windblown sand transport taking place around any kind of obstacle is rarely in equilibrium conditions. As a result, the modelling of windblown sand transport over complex orographies is fundamental, even if seldomly investigated. In this study, the authors present a wind-sand tunnel test campaign carried out on a nominally two-dimensional sinusoidal hill. A first test is carried out on a flat sand fetch without any obstacle to assess sand transport in open field conditions. Then, a second test is carried out on the hill model to assess the sand flux overcoming the hill and the morphodynamic evolution of the sand sedimenting over its upwind slope. Finally, obtained results are condensed into a dimensionless parameter describing its sedimentation capability and compared with values resulting from other nominally two-dimensional obstacles from the literature.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2019

Massive investments are going on to promote and build transportation infrastructure all across the globe with the challenges being more than budgetary. Sandy soils which are predominant in coastal and border areas in India have typical characteristics. The shear strength of such soil is very low which makes it difficult for any kind of geotechnical construction and hence soil stabilization needs to be carried out for such soil conditions. The use of geocells is one of the most economical methods of soil improvement which is used to increase strength and stiffness and reduce the liquefaction potential of the soil. The use of geocells in stabilizing desert sand and results from a series of plate load test on unreinforced soil and geocell reinforced homogenous sand beds are presented in the present study. It also compares the field results using various load class vehicles like heavy load military vehicles on geocell reinforced soils with the experimental results and comes out with the fact that the proposed technique increases the strength and stiffness of sandy soil considerably and provides a solution for preventing settlement and subsidence.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.69-85
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• 2019

Humans have been important driver to reconfigure the terrestrial surface of the Earth by altering its morphology and processes. The effect of human activities on the physical landscape, however, shows substantially uneven geographical patterns. Most of anthrogemorphoogical studies regarding human-induced denudation have focused on areas with a long history of human modifications such as humid landscapes, so the hypothesis is naturally a great human impact on landscapes. The effect of human activities on dryland Earth surfaces are far less commonly studied, although erosion is one of major concerns in arid and semi-arid region regarding land and water quality degradation. The urban metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona, USA provides an opportunity to explore the impact of the Anthropocene. The Phoenix metropolitan area rests on classic desert landforms, such as extensive pediments, alluvial fans and sand sheets. Human activities including cattle crazing, wildfire resulting from introduced grass species by human, and recent urbanization processes have impacted these classic desert landforms and altered geomorphic processes. The purpose of this paper, therefore, rests in examining Anthropocene in the geomorphology of the north-central Sonoran Desert. The objectives of this paper are: i) to understand the impact of the Anthropocene on the geomorphological processes and forms through field observations; ii) to quantify the magnitude of human impacts on landscape using a published two-decade long record of erosion dataset and natural background erosion dataset in submitted manuscript at the sprawling edge of the Phoenix metropolitan region; iii) to examine how geomorphic outcome can affect the sustainability of cities through the estimation of sediment yield under the condition of urban sprawl.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.45-76
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• 2000

The purposes of this study were to investigate and understand the present status of various types of "deserts", such as sand desert, gravel desert, rock desert, earth desert, salt desert, desert, rocky desert, gobi desert, sandy desert, clay desert, etc., and the general countermeasures for the combating "desertification" "desertization", and to develop the technologies on the revegetation and restoration for the combating desertification in China. The methods of this study were mainly composed of field surveys on the several experimental sites and research institutes related to combating desertification in China, and examinations on the various technologies for the combating desertification at the Daxing Experimental Station of Beijing Forestry University. The conclusion from this study may be summarized as follows; 1. Status and tendency of desertification in China : China is one of the countries seriously threatened by desertification. Desertification affected areas in China are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas in China, covering the most regions of the Northeast China (eastern region of Inner-Mongolia), the northern part of the North China (middle and western region of Inner-Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningsha, Gansu) and the western part of the Northwest China (Xinzang, Qinghai, Xizang). The total area affected by desertification in China is approximately 2.622 million $km^2$. It covers 27.3% of the total territory of China. Until recently, it is estimated that the annual spreading ratio of desertification in China is 2,460 $km^2$. Therefore, desertification is mostly serious problems facing to the Chinese people. 2. The causes and environmental effect of desertification : The desertification in China is mainly caused by compound factors, including natural condition and human activities. In China, the desertification is started by the decrease of precipitation, continuous dry and drought, strong wind, wind and water erosion, land degradation and loss of natural vegetation caused by climate variation, and accelerated by the human activities, such as over-cultivating, over-grazing, over-cutting of woods, irrational use of water resources. Because desertification has affected the geographical features, soil nutrients contents, salinity, vegetation coverage and the functions of ecosystem, the environmental deteriorations in the desertification affected areas are very seriously. 3. The fundamental strategies of combating desertification in China are the increase of education and awareness of people through various mass media, the revision of laws to guarantee operation of Desertification Combating Law and to improve many relating laws and regulations, the application of advanced technologies and training of experts, the establishment of discriminative policies, and increasing arrangement of budget-investment, and so on. China, as a signed country in UNCCD, has made efforts for the combating desertification. Korea is also signed country in UNCCD, so we should play an important role in the desertification combating projects of China for the northest asia and global environmental conservation as well as environmental conservation of Korea.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.555-571
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• 2016

A hanging-type sand-retaining wall is a very common sand-blocking fence structure used to prevent sand movement. This type of wall is widely used along the Qinghai-Tibet and Gobi desert railways in Xinjiang, Western China. To analyze the characteristics of wind-sand flow fields under the effect of such a sand fence structure, a wind tunnel test and a field test were carried out. The wind tunnel test showed the zoning characteristics of the flow fields under the effect of the hanging-type sand-retaining wall, and the field test provided the sediment transport data for effective wind-proof interval and the sand resistance data in the front and behind the sand-retaining wall. The consistency of the wind-sand flow fields with the spatial distribution characteristic of wind-carried sand motion was verified by the correspondences of the acceleration zone in the flow field and the negative elevation points of the percentage variations of the sand collection rate. The spatial distribution characteristic of the field sand collection data further showed the spatial structural characteristic of the sandy air currents under the action of the hanging-type sand-retaining wall and the sand resistance characteristic of the sand-retaining wall. This systematic study on the wind-sand flow fields under the control of the hanging-type sand-retaining wall provides a theoretical basis for the rational layout of sand control engineering systems and the efficient utilization of a hanging-type sand-retaining wall.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.563-570
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• 2018

Ballast layer has an important role in vertical stiffness and stability of railway track. In most of the Middle East countries and some of the Asian ones, significant parts of railway lines pass through desert areas where the track (particularly ballast layer) is contaminated with sands. Despite considerable number of derailments reported in the sand contaminated tracks, there is a lack of sufficient studies on the influences of sand contamination on the ballast vertical stiffness as the main indicator of track stability. Addressing this limitation, the effects of sand contamination on the mechanical behavior of ballast were experimentally investigated. For this purpose, laboratory tests (plate load test) on ballast samples with different levels of sand contamination were carried out. The results obtained were analyzed leading to derive mathematical expressions for the strain modulus ($E_V$) as a function of the ballast level of contamination. The $E_V$ was used as an index for evaluation of the load-deformation characteristics and bearing capacity of track substructure. The critical limit of sand contamination, after which the $E_V$ of the ballast reduces drastically, was obtained. It was shown that the obtained research results improve the current track maintenance approach by providing key guides for the optimization of ballast maintenance planning (the timing of ballast cleaning or renewal).