Dirk Goossens, The aeolian dust accumulation curve: .
Summary
This article presents a simple physical concept of aeolian dust accumulation, based on the behaviour of the subprocesses of dust deposition and dust erosion. The concept is tested in an aeolian dust wind tunnel. The agreement between the accumulation curve predicted by the model and the accumulation curve obtained in the experiments is close to perfect and shows that it is necessary to discriminate between the processes of aeolian dust deposition and aeolian dust accumulation. Two important thresholds determine the accumulation process. For wind speeds below the deflation threshold, the aeolian accumulation of dust increases linearly with the wind speed. For wind velocities between the deflation threshold and the accumulation limit, [...]
Summary
This article presents a simple physical concept of aeolian dust
accumulation, based on the behaviour of the subprocesses of dust
deposition and dust erosion. The concept is tested in an aeolian dust
wind tunnel. The agreement between the accumulation curve predicted by
the model and the accumulation curve obtained in the experiments is
close to perfect and shows that it is necessary to discriminate between
the processes of aeolian dust deposition and aeolian dust accumulation.
Two important thresholds determine the accumulation process. For wind
speeds below the deflation threshold, the aeolian accumulation of dust
increases linearly with the wind speed. For wind velocities between the
deflation threshold and the accumulation limit, the sedimentation
balance is above unity and there is still accumulation, though it
rapidly drops once the deflation threshold has been exceeded. At wind
speeds beyond the accumulation limit, the sedimentation balance is below
unity and there will no longer be an accumulation of dust. The
thresholds have been determined in a wind tunnel test at friction
velocity u� D 0�34 m s1 (deflation threshold) and
u� D 0�43 m s1 (accumulation limit), but these values are
only indicative since they depend heavily on the characteristics of the
accumulation surface and of the airborne grains. Copyright
ï›™ 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published in
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, volume 26, issue 11, on pages
1213 - 1219, in 2001.