(PhysOrg.com) -- In more than 30 locations around the world, the phenomenon of singing sand dunes has intrigued explorers, tourists, and scientists. When an avalanche occurs or even when the sand is pushed by hand, it emits ...
Mars is one of the most explored components of the solar system, yet there are always more discoveries to unveil on Earth's planetary neighbor. On Earth we are able to take direct measurements to understand our planet's meteorological ...
Although sand dunes often conjure images of great deserts, they also occur along coastlines worldwide and can be an important buffer for communities threatened by sea level rise, storms and coastal erosion.
Among the mountainous dunes and small, undulating ripples of Mars' desert-like surface are sand structures, intermediate in size, that are not quite like anything on Earth.
Planetary Sciences
Dec 14, 2022
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368
Sand dunes, like many ecosystems, have more than one comfort zone. Variations in moisture, especially, can shift them from active, blowing waves of dry sand to rolling mounds with soils held down by grass and low shrubs.
Earth Sciences
Feb 26, 2020
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95
Even though they are inanimate objects, sand dunes can 'communicate' with each other. A team from the University of Cambridge has found that as they move, sand dunes interact with and repel their downstream neighbours.
General Physics
Feb 4, 2020
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The flow of granular materials, such as sand and catalytic particles used in chemical reactors, explains a wide range of natural phenomena, from mudslides to volcanos, and enables a broad array of industrial processes, from ...
General Physics
Apr 22, 2019
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Scientists have discovered dunes on Pluto, and say they are likely to have been formed of methane ice grains released into its rarefied atmosphere.
Space Exploration
May 31, 2018
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205
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a peculiar place. Unlike any other moon, it has a dense atmosphere. It has rivers and lakes made up of components of natural gas, such as ethane and methane. It also has windswept dunes that ...
Space Exploration
Dec 8, 2014
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0
The amazing ability of sidewinder snakes to quickly climb sandy slopes was once something biologists only vaguely understood and roboticists only dreamed of replicating. By studying the snakes in a unique bed of inclined ...
Robotics
Oct 9, 2014
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0
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack. A "dune field" is an area covered by extensive sand dunes. Large dune fields are known as ergs.
Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach. In most cases the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, the largest complexes of dunes are found inland in dry regions and associated with ancient lake or sea beds.
Dunes also form under the action of water flow (alluvial processes), and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed.
The modern word "dune" came into English from French circa 1790. In ancient times, words cognate to "dune" probably had the meaning of a built-up hill or citadel fortification.
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