Abstract
Sand dunes are found in a variety of shapes in deserts and coasts and
also on the planet Mars. The basic mechanisms of dune formation could be
incorporated into a continuum saltation model, which successfully
reproduced the shape of the barchan dunes and has been also applied to
calculate interaction of barchans in a field. We have recently extended
our dune model to investigate other dune shapes observed in nature.
Here, we present the first numerical simulation of the transformation of
barchan dunes, under the influence of vegetation, into parabolic dunes,
which appear frequently on coasts. Further, we apply our model to
reproduce the shape of barchan dunes observed on Mars, and we find that
an interesting property related to the martian saltation is relevant to
predict the scale of dunes on Mars. Our model can also reproduce unusual
dune shapes of the Martian north polar region, like rounded barchans and
elongated linear dunes. Our results support the hypothesis that these
dunes are indurated.
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