TY - JOUR
T1 - Megaripple mechanics
T2 - bimodal transport ingrained in bimodal sands
AU - Tholen, Katharina
AU - Pähtz, Thomas
AU - Yizhaq, Hezi
AU - Katra, Itzhak
AU - Kroy, Klaus
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from the GIF, the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (no. 155-301.10/2018). T.P. acknowledges support from grant Young Scientific Innovation Research Project of Zhejiang University (no. 529001*17221012108).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - Aeolian sand transport is a major process shaping landscapes on Earth and on diverse celestial bodies. Conditions favoring bimodal sand transport, with fine-grain saltation driving coarse-grain reptation, give rise to the evolution of megaripples with a characteristic bimodal sand composition. Here, we derive a unified phase diagram for this special aeolian process and the ensuing nonequilibrium megaripple morphodynamics by means of a conceptually simple quantitative model, grounded in the grain-scale physics. We establish a well-preserved quantitative signature of bimodal aeolian transport in the otherwise highly variable grain size distributions, namely, the log-scale width (Krumbein phi scale) of their coarse-grain peaks. A comprehensive collection of terrestrial and extraterrestrial data, covering a wide range of geographical sources and environmental conditions, supports the accuracy and robustness of this unexpected theoretical finding. It could help to resolve ambiguities in the classification of terrestrial and extraterrestrial sedimentary bedforms.
AB - Aeolian sand transport is a major process shaping landscapes on Earth and on diverse celestial bodies. Conditions favoring bimodal sand transport, with fine-grain saltation driving coarse-grain reptation, give rise to the evolution of megaripples with a characteristic bimodal sand composition. Here, we derive a unified phase diagram for this special aeolian process and the ensuing nonequilibrium megaripple morphodynamics by means of a conceptually simple quantitative model, grounded in the grain-scale physics. We establish a well-preserved quantitative signature of bimodal aeolian transport in the otherwise highly variable grain size distributions, namely, the log-scale width (Krumbein phi scale) of their coarse-grain peaks. A comprehensive collection of terrestrial and extraterrestrial data, covering a wide range of geographical sources and environmental conditions, supports the accuracy and robustness of this unexpected theoretical finding. It could help to resolve ambiguities in the classification of terrestrial and extraterrestrial sedimentary bedforms.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122876395&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-26985-3
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-26985-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 35013166
AN - SCOPUS:85122876395
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 13
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 162
ER -