Arid region geomorphology... What causes the erosion and deposition? - Wind, Water, and Gravity
Badlands topography with terraces
Types of streams in Arid and semi-Arid locales Exotic streams- begin in areas that are not arid and flow into the desert. Ex. Nile River, Colorado River, Okavango River Local streams (Arroyos) - begin in the arid region, and often end there as well. There are many streams of this type…
A dry stream channel (arroyo) Note the scale of the boulders
Nile River- An exotic stream
Colorado River-Dammed
Alluvial fans & Bajadas in Death Valley Graben
Playa lake, Owens Valley, CA
Sand Dunes in Colorado Great Sand Dunes National Monument
Star Dune in Mexico
Star Dune
Linear Dunes With an exotic stream wind
Barchanoid dunes with smaller transverse & barchanoid dunes superimposed on them
Transverse dunes in Namibia- oblique aerial view
Transverse dunes in Namibia- ground view
Barchan dunes Wind direction Slip face
Barchan dunes Wind direction
Parabolic dunes -on a topo map
Parabolic dunes
Erosional landforms vs. Depositional landforms Erosional forms include... Pediment - bedrock ramp that leads up to the mountain front Plateau- large flat undeformed area that is topographically higher than the surrounding region Mesa- Smaller than the plateau, but basically the same feature Buttes- smaller than the Mesa, but basically the same feature Spires (a.k.a. Hoodoos)- smaller than the buttes
Piedmont in Colorado Piedmont is a geographic designation relating to the slope and or foothills leading to a mountain range
Colorado Plateau with Grand Canyon
A Mesa
Buttes and Spires in Monument Valley, Utah
Spires, Hoodoos, goblins...
Yardangs on Mars
Yardang
Boulders (foreground) collected from desert pavement (background)
Desert Pavement and Desert Varnish
Ventifact
ventifacts
Walking Boulders