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Arid Land Geography ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (12): 2158-2168.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2024.560

• Climate Change and Surface Process • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Grain size characteristics of wind-blown sand transport on several underlying surfaces under strong wind conditions in Inner Mongolia section of Ejina-Hami Railway

GUO Qi1,2(), YAN Min1,2(), ZUO Hejun1,2, LIU Yaqi1,2, XU Fujian1,2, JIANG Chunyu1,2   

  1. 1 College of Desert Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    2 Key Laboratory of Aeolian Sand Physics and Sand Control Engineering in Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2024-09-15 Revised:2024-12-10 Online:2025-12-25 Published:2025-12-30
  • Contact: YAN Min E-mail:gq7q7q7@126.com;ym5233@126.com

Abstract:

This study investigates the grain size characteristics of wind-blown sand flow over the gravel desert, moving sand dunes, and eroded hills, as well as the corresponding protective measures along a railway in the Gobi area. The study is based on an analysis of the grain size characteristics of sand particles in the wind-blown sand flows of different underlying surfaces in the Inner Mongolia section of the Ejina-Hami (E-Ha) Railway, in the Gobi area, combined with field observations and indoor laser-based particle-size analysis methods. Results revealed that the sand on the underlying surface of the K728+000~K843+000 section of the E-Ha Railway was mainly composed of fine sand, medium sand, and very fine sand. The particle-size frequency curve shows one peak distribution. The sand flow structure was exponentially distributed under natural conditions and sand control projects, and the sand composition differed significantly at various heights. In addition, under natural conditions, there was no significant change in sand material in the 0-4 cm layer, whereas in the 4-10 cm layer, very fine sand and fine sand were easily carried to higher levels by wind. The 10-50 cm layer was primarily composed of fine and medium sand, accounting for 83.57% of the railway sand. The blown-sand prevention and control project can decrease the fine and medium sand content in the low layer (0-20 cm) by 53.98% and effectively intercept 37.47% of the very fine sand in the high layer (20-50 cm). Lastly, in the height range of 0-50 cm, the vertical differentiation of each particle size component was significant. When the height increased, the average particle size decreased and the content of fine sand gradually increased. In the wind-blown sand flow of each underlying surface, there was a significant correlation between the contents of very fine sand and fine sand and height (P≤0.05). The sorting coefficient, kurtosis value, and skewness value increased with increasing height. When the height exceeded 50 cm, the sorting of sand in the wind-sand flow became worse and the characteristics of each particle size did not change significantly.

Key words: wind-sand flow, grain-size parameter, underlying surface, Ejina-Hami Railway, Gobi area