Arid region geomorphology... What causes the erosion and deposition? - Wind, Water, and Gravity

Badlands topography with terraces

Types of streams in Arid and semi-Arid locales Exotic streams- begin in areas that are not arid and flow into the desert. Ex. Nile River, Colorado River, Okavango River Local streams (Arroyos) - begin in the arid region, and often end there as well. There are many streams of this type…

A dry stream channel (arroyo) Note the scale of the boulders

Nile River- An exotic stream

Colorado River-Dammed

Alluvial fans & Bajadas in Death Valley Graben

Playa lake, Owens Valley, CA

Sand Dunes in Colorado Great Sand Dunes National Monument

Star Dune in Mexico

Star Dune

Linear Dunes With an exotic stream wind

Barchanoid dunes with smaller transverse & barchanoid dunes superimposed on them

Transverse dunes in Namibia- oblique aerial view

Transverse dunes in Namibia- ground view

Barchan dunes Wind direction Slip face

Barchan dunes Wind direction

Parabolic dunes -on a topo map

Parabolic dunes

Erosional landforms vs. Depositional landforms Erosional forms include... Pediment - bedrock ramp that leads up to the mountain front Plateau- large flat undeformed area that is topographically higher than the surrounding region Mesa- Smaller than the plateau, but basically the same feature Buttes- smaller than the Mesa, but basically the same feature Spires (a.k.a. Hoodoos)- smaller than the buttes

Piedmont in Colorado Piedmont is a geographic designation relating to the slope and or foothills leading to a mountain range

Colorado Plateau with Grand Canyon

A Mesa

Buttes and Spires in Monument Valley, Utah

Spires, Hoodoos, goblins...

Yardangs on Mars

Yardang

Boulders (foreground) collected from desert pavement (background)

Desert Pavement and Desert Varnish

Ventifact

ventifacts

Walking Boulders