CollectHomepage AdvertisementContact usMessage

›› 2016, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 495-503.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Amount of wind erosion to gravel gobi under different disturbing modes

YIN Dai-ying, QU Jian-jun, ZHAO Su-ping, TAN Li-hai, AN Zhi-shan, XIAO Jian-hua   

  1. Dunhuang Gobi and Desert Ecology and Environment Research Station, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China;Cold and Arid Region Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China;Chinese Academy of Sciences. Gansu Center for Sand Hazard Reduction Engineering and Technoogy Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2015-12-15 Revised:2016-03-01 Online:2016-05-25

Abstract: Field wind tunnel experiments were conducted in Yardang Gravel Gobi to measure the amount of wind erosion under different disturbance modes, wind speeds and disturbance areas. Five free wind speeds were selected in this study, i.e., 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 m·s-1. The sand dust at different heights was collected using the sand sampler with a height of 20 cm having the interval of 2 cm for each entrance, and eolian processes were measured by weighing transducer. Results show as follows:(1) the wind erosion amount varied under different disturbance modes and different disturbance intensity, and was the severest under triple crushing by trucks among the five disturbance modes, the slightest under natural bed mode, indicating that the disturbance with more intensity led to greater wind erosion. The wind erosion amount under the continuous disturbance was significantly higher than that under interval disturbance.(2) Wind erosion amount increased exponentially with the increase of wind speed:when wind speeds was 8 to 10 m·s-1, wind erosion of gravel Gobi surface was relatively slight; while strong wind erosion occurred when wind speed increased to larger than 12 m·s-1.(3) The damage areas of Gobi is irrelevant to wind erosion modulus, so the total amount of wind erosion under different disturbing area can be estimated by multiplying the wind erosion amount with the corresponding disturbing area.(4) The wind-sand flow structure can also be affected by the different disturbance modes. The largest value of sediment runoff appeared in the height of 4-6 cm above earth surface rather than generally 0-1 cm, showing the so called "Trunk Effect" which was unobvious for large disturbance. This may be related to the fact that the collision between sand and the ground decreased significantly as the surface had only abundant sand without gravel on it after a strong disturbance.(5) The wind erosion amount reached the highest value after ~60 s under calm wind for the quadrat without gravel destruction above Gobi surface, while during ~20 s for the quadrat with gravel destruction, showing that the gravel Gobi surface with disturbances reached a steady state after the surface sand was taken away by wind. This result can provide a new method to predict the total amount of wind erosion for engineering construction and tourism development and resources utilization in the Gobi region, and also a scientific and technical basis for the enforcing law of administration on soil and water conservation. Improving the Gobi protection awareness has the important theories worth in regional ecological balance protection.

Key words: gravel Gobi, disturbance modes, wind speed, the amount of wind erosion, wind-sand flow structure

CLC Number: 

  • P931.1