Deserts, Glaciers, and Climate

Desert and Glacial Landscape

There are several types of desert landforms; they include, but are not limited to mesas, plateaus, buttes, blowouts, and dunes. The desert landscape is shaped mainly by two forces: wind and water.

Landforms in the desert, such as plateaus, buttes, and mesas are the product of weathering and erosion but are also a direct product of rock structure. Rocks of altering density and strengths will wear away at various rates. In time, this will create the astonishing structures that we see in the deserts. These rock structures are likely to have angular features because of the lack of rain in a desert setting. The lack of rain also means that there is little chemical weathering associated with rainfall. We typically do not associate rainfall with the desert, but when it does rain, flooding can easily happen and these flash floods will cut gullies and scarps into the landscape.

Sand dunes are also a very common sight in a desert. These are created by winds that blow the sand around and eventually deposit them into different formations. Sand can travel many miles during the course of a year and can be devastating to anything in its path. Dunes can take on many shapes and characteristics. They include dome, crescentic, linear, star, parabolic, Seif, transverse, and reversing dunes. The shape and characteristic of the aforementioned dunes are dependent on the interaction with the wind. Silt and sand deposited by the wind is scientifically known as loess.

The wind can also cause erosion. Wind erosion can occur through two processes, deflation and abrasion. Abrasion is the wearing away of solid surfaces as a direct result of the impact of high speed particles. One could think of it as sandblasting. This process works close to the ground. Deflation is the removing of sand, silt and loose clay by strong winds. Deflation can dig out shallow depressions and actually lower the land surface.

Glaciers also create landforms...