Aeolian sands

Aeolian sands are deposited by wind action, either in dunes or in extensive sheets ( cover sand areas ) Wind action is particularly effective in hot and dry regions such as deserts but sand dunes are also common in (sub)humid regions with sparse vegetation, notably in overgrazed areas and along beaches and fluvial braid plains . The (weathering) history of the parent materials in the source area determines whether the sands are rich in quartz and/or carbonates. 

Clearly, aeolian processes were much more important at that time than at present. Large parts of the present temperate zone, from the cover sands of the Netherlands to the sand dunes in north-east Siberia are Ice Age (aeolian) sands. South and east of this cover sand belt lies a belt of loess deposits, extending from France, across Belgium, the southern Netherlands, Germany and large parts of Eastern Europe into the vast steppes of Russia, and further east to Siberia and China. A similar east-west loess belt exists in the USA and less extensive areas occur on the Southern Hemisphere, e.g. in the Argentinean pampas. 

Sandveld Site 1 Brown fine aeolian sand with limestone/dolomite concretions on top and subsurface layers Sandveld Site 2 Brown fine aeolian sand with no limestone/dolomite concretions... 

Brown fine aeolian sand with no limestone/dolomite concretions... 

White fine aeolian sand with limestone/dolomite concretions in soil profile... 

Jingbian is located in the central part of the Ordos Basin, where the oil and gas potential has long been considered to be poor because favourable structures are not evident in the seismic data. In 1988, however, the Changqing Oil Company proposed a scientific research well. This was preceded by a surface gas geochemical survey along several traverses, one of which passed through the site of the proposed well. The surface material, which is mainly aeolian sand, dry river-bank sediments and loess, was sampled at depths of 2-3 m at intervals of one km along traverse lines. At each sample site, Hg in... 

Still other factors point to the significance of the anomalies. The hydrocarbon anomalies in the river bank sediments include the complete range from C to C5, which excludes the possibility of the hydrocarbon anomaly being of surface biological origin. The aeolian sand is a comparatively poor medium for the development and detection of hydrocarbon anomalies in soil, but is highly suitable for the detection of Hg in soil air, for which there is no obvious source other than natural gas at depth. 

Rich, J., Stokes, S., Wood, W. Bailey, R. (2003) Optical dating of tufa via in situ aeolian sand grains a case example from the Southern High Plains, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1145-1152. 

Tube and rod concretions are small (0.1-5 cm diameter, 3-50 cm long) horizontal to vertical masses that occur both individually and in groups. They are associated with overbank fines (OF), palaeosol horizons (P), aeolian sand sheet deposits (ES) and interdune (ID) deposits (Table 1 Fig. 6). They often branch, and most thin downwards (Fig. IOC). Some rod concretions have pitted, tubular and grooved surface textures most are smooth. 

Conrad and Seiler (1980a) Aeolian sand, sparse 72 days, Sept.-Oct. 1978 -0.2 Untreated, low in Sept.,... 

Vegetated aeolian sand bodies from the last glacial maximum are common in many parts of the world, as are sandy sediments in palaeochannels and glacial deposits. Likewise, fine-textured soils derived from basalts (or intrusive equivalents) are common and... 

Goh, K. M., Rafter, X A., Stout, J. D., and Walker, X W. (1976). The accumulation of soil organic matter and its carbon isotope composition in a chronosequence of soils developed on aeolian sand in New Zealand. Soil Science 27, 89-100. 

Table 8.3. Objectives and methods of aeolian sand control (after Kerr and Nigra, 1952). With the kind permission of the American... 

Al-Awadi J, Misak R (2000) Field measurement of Aeolian sand processes and sand control measures. Kuwait J Sci Eng 27 159-176... 

Butterfield, G.R. 1999. Near-bed mass flux profiles in aeolian sand transport High-resolution measurements in a wind tunnel. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 24(5) 393-412. 

Koster, E.A., 2009. The European Aeolian Sand Belt Geoconcervation of driftsand landscapes. Geoheritage 1,93-1120. 

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