Arid Landforms
Nov 02, 2014
Arid Landforms
Arid lands are noted for several characteristics…
1. Slow chemical weathering
2. Rapid erosion (No vegetation cover)
3. Angular topographic features
Hess 10th ed, p 425
Angular landforms of arid regions
Boron open pit mining: an old desert playa deposit that concentrated borate minerals.
Death Valley alluvial fan
Owens Valley alluvial fans
Rancho Cucamonga alluvial fans
Allen Ave Pasadena
Lowe Granodiorite boulder
Lowe Granodiorite
A wall at the Mt. Lowe Hotel above Altadena
Sand Mt. south of Fallon, NV
Great Sand Dunes National Monument in Colorado
(On the East side of the San Luis Valley)
Dumont Dunes Mojave Desert
White Sands NM Sand of a different sort! …Gypsum sand!
White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
From the air the White Sands basin looks like this.
The white sand is produced from the erosion of gypsum crystals (selenite) like these.
There are three fossil deserts recorded in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata of the Colorado Plateau.
The Coconino Sandstone of the Grand Canyon
Fossil wind blown sand dunes in the Coconino Sandstone of the Grand Canyon
Wingate Sandstone (Capital Reef Nat’l Park)
Granddaddy of fossil deserts… The Navajo Sandstone
The Great White Throne, Zion Nat’l Park, Utah
Fossil sand dune of Zion Nat’l Park
Plateau
Mesa
Butte
Butte