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Desert
Glossary
Definition
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Onion skin is when a rock is repeatedly subjected to heat and cold which causes layers of rock peel off.
Granular Disintegration: It is process of physical or mechanical weathering due to repeated heating and cooling as a result of temperature changes.
Aeolia is the product of wind eroding the surface of the Earth.
Deflation is the process of wind picking up sediment and transporting it.
Abrasion is the process in which wind blown sediments collide and wear rocks down.
Barchan: A crescent-shaped sand dune with the convex side in the direction of the wind.
Seif: A long narrow sand dune or chain of dunes extending in a direction parallel to that of the wind responsible for its construction.
Ventifact: A stone shaped by the erosive action of wind-blown sand.
Yardang: A sharp irregular ridge of sand lying in the direction of the prevailing wind in exposed desert regions, formed by the wind erosion of adjacent material which is less resistant.
Zeugen: A Mushroom-shaped rock that has been eroded by the abrasive action of windblown sand.
Erg: An erg is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover.
Hamada: is a type of desert landscape consisting of high, largely barren, hard, rocky plateaus, with very little sand because this has been removed by deflation.
Reg: A vast stony desert plain.
Mechanical weathering: takes place when rocks are broken down without any change in the chemical nature of the rocks.
Exfoliation: separation of successive thin shells, or spalls, from massive a rock.