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Effect of Transverse Ridge Microtopography on the Structure of Surface Drifting Sand Flux
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  • Xiuming Li,
  • Wenru Jia,
  • Qing Li,
  • Haiming Yan,
  • Baoni Xie,
  • Hao Wei
Xiuming Li
Hebei GEO University

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Wenru Jia
Hebei GEO University
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Qing Li
Hebei Academy of Sciences
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Haiming Yan
Hebei GEO University
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Baoni Xie
Hebei GEO University
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Hao Wei
Hebei GEO University
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Abstract

Through wind tunnel experiments, we measured the structure of surface drifting sand flux and sand transport rate on a bed surface that contained widely but uniformly spaced and non-erodible ridges. We found that under the condition of no ridges, the sand transport rate within the height of 0~70 cm on the bed surface decreases in a power function law with the increase of height, increases with the increase of friction velocity, and the proportion of sand transport rate at different high layers increases with the increase of height. The variation of sand transport rate with height can be divided into two cases for all the ridge heights and spacings: one shows that sand transport rate decreases exponentially with height, while the other shows that sand transport rate increases with height under a certain height, and above the certain height decreases exponentially with the increase of height, known as “elephant nose” effect which seems similar to the structure of drifting sand flux in Gobi desert. For all the ridge heights and spacings, the total sand transport rate in the height of 0~70 cm increases with the increase of friction velocity in a power function law, and increases with the increase of ridge spacing. When the friction velocity and ridge spacing are both large, the total sand transport rate of some ridge structures are larger than that with no ridges. Our results will contribute to the study on recognize the process and mechanism of soil wind erosion in ridge farmland.