Aeolian Research

Des rejets de la laverie minière de Hammam Zriba (Zaghouan, Tunisie) sont mis en
place au cours de l’édification de la digue à fond plat par décantation. Cette zone
est soumise souvent à des phénomènes météorologiques (tempêtes de vent et/ou
pluie) qui aggravent ces impacts soit par ruissellement des particules minérales via
le réseau hydraulique soit par la déflation éolienne via l’air. Cette étude consiste à
adopter une approche expérimentale pour quantifier le flux d’érosion éolienne, et
évaluer l’impact de la pollution minière sur les zones urbaines. La méthodologie
adoptée consiste en la mise en place de pièges à sable verticaux (type Rosen 1978)
pendant un événement érosif exceptionnel (tempête de vent du 22 mai 2013). Les
flux d’érosion éolienne mesurés varient entre 1,8 et 6,4 kg/mn/m. La validation des
flux d’érosion éolienne montre que les modèles semi-empirique de Zingg (1953)
et empirique de Bagnold (1941) s’accordent le mieux aux conditions in-situ.

full citation: Ford, R.L., Gillman, S.J., Wilkins, D.E., Clement, W.P., and Nicoll, K. 2010. Geology and Geomorphology of Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah. In Anderson, P.B.; Chidsey, T.C. and Sprinkel, D.A. (Eds) Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments, Utah Geological Association Publication 28, 3rd Edition, Bryce Canyon Natural History Association and Utah Geological Association. p. 379-406.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, located in southwestern Kane County, Utah, contains a variety of geologic features including one of the largest areas of freely migrating dunes in the Colorado Plateau. The semiarid climate, strong prevailing southerly winds, sparse vegetation, and abundant supply of sand-sized sediment make this area susceptible to eo-lian processes. Picturesque exposures of Jurassic rocks are present within the park. The stratigraphic sequence ranges from the Tri-assic-Jurassic Moenave Formation to the Middle Jurassic Carmel Formation. The most widespread bedrock unit exposed within the park is the Navajo Sandstone (Lower Jurassic). The Navajo Sandstone is also widely exposed across the Moccasin Terrace southwest of the park and is the most likely source for the sand that comprises the dune field. The " coral pink " color of the dune sand is the result of iron-oxide stains on the surface of the sand grains inherited from the source sandstones. Migrating dunes, whose morphology is primarily a function of wind characteristics, include transverse ridges, barchanoid ridges, and a solitary star dune. Dunes influenced or impeded by topographic obstacles or vegetation include climbing dunes, echo dunes, parabolic dunes, vegetated linear dunes, and nebkhas. We divide the dune field into major geomorphic units based on the dominant dune type. A largely stabilized (vegetated) sand sheet and partially stabilized, poorly organized dunes are present at the southern (upwind) end of the dune field. The active core of the dune field contains transverse ridges and barchanoid ridges. Barchanoid ridges at the northern (downwind) end of the active core grade into climbing dunes that ramp up the bedrock escarpment associated with the Sevier fault. The climbing dunes in turn grade into large parabolic dunes that dominate the downwind end of the dune field. Coral Pink Sand Dunes lies within the structural transition zone between the Great Basin section of the Basin and Range province to the west, and the core of the Colorado Plateau to the east. The north-south-trending Sevier fault cuts through the length of the park. The fault trace is marked by a west-facing bedrock escarpment that divides the park into two topographic units (a forested plateau to the east and a relatively low-lying valley floor to the west) and acts as a major control over the accumulation of sand within the dune field. Important events recorded in the geologic features of the park include the Triassic and Jurassic depositional history of the Glen Canyon Group, the Cretaceous to Cenozoic structural history of the Colorado Plateau, and the late Holocene history of the active dunes. Optically stimulated luminescence dates from the active core of the dune field indicate that Holocene eolian deposition began at least 4,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of organic materials from an exhumed soil surface suggests a period of landscape stability approximately 500-200 years ago, coincident with the Little Ice Age. Den-drochronologic data from the ponderosa pines in the park, along with historic photographs, indicate the dune field has experienced alternating wet periods and drought since the end of the Little Ice Age, which have influenced vegetation coverage and dune activity in the area. 379

Bu çalışmada, Kyme kentinin güneyinde yer alan ve Güney Nekropolisi'ni oluşturan mezarlık alanlardan biri olan Batı Liman Nekropolisi'nde bulunan bir çocuk mezarı buluntularıyla birlikte incelenmiştir. Söz konusu çocuk mezarı, İzmir Müze Müdürlüğü tarafından 2011 yılında yapılan çalışmalarda, Batı Liman 1205 Parsel olarak adlandırılan alanda bulunmuştur. Değerlendirilen mezar, bugüne değin birden fazla alanda ortaya çıkarılan Kyme Nekropolisleri'ndeki çocuk gömüleri üzerine yeni veriler ortaya koymaktadır. Bulunduğu nekropolis içerisindeki mezar tipleriyle karşılaştırıldığında mezar için farklı bir tip uygulanmıştır. Mezarın içerisine bırakılan, pişmiş topraktan üretilmiş çıngırak ve hayvan figürinleri (horoz, koç, domuz) mezar konteksti olarak değerlendirilmiş, mezar buluntuları tipolojik olarak ele alınmıştır. Buluntular, bölge çevresindeki benzer örnekler ile karşılaştırılarak tarihlendirilmiştir. Özellikle bu hediyelerin niçin bırakıldığına dair her bir figürinin sembolik, kültürel ve sosyolojik açıdan incelenmesine çalışılmış, anlamsal açıdan bir çerçeve içerisine oturtulması amaçlanmıştır. Genel olarak MÖ V. yüzyıl içerisine tarihlendirilen mezar hediyeleri Kyme'nin koroplastik literatürüne ve kentteki çocuk gömüleri üzerine yeni katkılar sunmaktadır.

Dune management along developed coasts has traditionally focussed on the suppression of the geomor-phic dynamics of the foredune to improve its role in sea defence. Because a stabilized foredune acts as an almost total barrier to aeolian transport from the beach, the habitat diversity in the more landward dunes has degraded. With the overarching objective to mitigate this undesirable loss in biodiversity, dune management projects nowadays increasingly intend to restore aeolian dynamics by reconnecting the beach-dune system with notches excavated through the foredune. Here, we use repeat topographic survey data to examine the geomorphic response of a coastal dune system in the Dutch National Park Zuid-Kennemerland to five notches excavated in 2012–2013 within an 850-m stretch of the 20-m high established foredune. The notches were dug in a V-shape (viewed onshore), with a width between approximately 50 and 100 m at the top, a (cross-dune) length between 100 and 200 m, and excavation depths between 9 and 12.5 m. The 1 Â 1 m digital terrain models, acquired with airborne Lidar and UAV photogrammetry, illustrate that during the 3-year survey period the notches developed into a U-shape because of wall deflation, and that up to 8-m thick and 150-m long depositional lobes formed landward of the notches. Sand budget computations showed that the sand volume of the entire study area increased by about 22,750 m 3 /year, which, given the 850-m width of the study area, corresponds to an aeolian input from the beach of approximately 26.5 m 3 /m/year. Between 2006 and 2012 all wind-blown beach sand deposited on the seaward side of the foredune; since 2013, the notches have caused 75% of the sand to be deposited landward of the foredune. This highlights that the notches are highly effective conduits for aeolian transport into the back dunes. Future monitoring is required to determine for how long the notches will stimulate aeolian dynamics and if (and when) vegetation eventually starts to regrow and enforces the degeneration of the notches.

Yeni Foça-İzmir karayolunun batısında, Kyme Antik Kenti’nden yaklaşık 1 km uzaklıkta, kentin güney nekropolisi içerisine  giren  tepelerin  batıya bakan  yamaçları  Batı  Liman  Nekropolisi  olarak  isimlendirilmiştir. 2011  yılında yürütülen kazı çalışmalarında, nekropolisin batı yamaçlarını kapsayan üçüncü derece taşınmazda mezarlara ulaşılmış, bu çalışmada tespit edilen mezarların tümü incelenmiştir. Kazısı yapılan alanda toplam 34 mezar ortaya çıkarılırken, anakaya ve toprak çukurlar içerisinde olmak üzere, mezarların tümünde inhumasyon geleneği uygulanmıştır. Bireylerin bu çukurlara defin edilmesinin ardından, üzerleri bir ila beş arasında değişen kireçtaşı plakalar ve çatı formu verilerek yapılmış çatı kiremitleri (stroterler) ile kapatılmıştır. Buluntu kontekstlerine sahip mezarlar sayesinde kronolojik bir değerlendirme yapıldığında, nekropolisteki en erken gömü MÖ 5. yüzyıl ikinci yarısına tarihlendirilen kireçtaşı plaka kapaklı mezarlar ile temsil edilmektedir. MÖ 4. ve 3. yüzyıllarda kısmen baskın bir gömü yoğunluğunu olduğu saptanırken, MÖ 2. yüzyıl ortası ve sonrasına ait mezarlar geç gömüler olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Bunun yanı sıra, kazısı yapılmış ve kısmen yayınlanmış diğer Kyme nekropolisleriyle benzerlikleri ve farklılıkları karşılaştırmalı olarak ele alınmıştır.

This paper presents the first attempt at qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating the sedimentary contribution of the Puna plateau to the loess and soils of the Argentinean Pampas. The origin of the Pampean sediment has been traditionally ascribed to northern Patagonia, but new evidence supports a dual supply: western Central Andes/North Patagonia and Puna/Altiplano Plateau. Three different lines of evidence show here that Puna dust supply is active and produces significant sedimentary deposition up to places like Buenos Aires city. The first evidence is meteorological and we show here one event related to an abnormal rainfall that deposited large quantities of a reddish-brownish silt eroded out from the Puna, calling the attention of the environmental agency of Buenos Aires city. The second evidence is the sampling of active wind transport collecting extremely coarse material carried out in the saltation layer, suggesting the fine grained material escapes the area as fugitive dust. This also demonstrates that observed gravel-bearing bedforms of the Puna are active, and that the transport system seems to be activated by polar fronts only. Results show that the saltation curtain is abnormally thick and coarse, suggesting that the kinetic energy peaks ca. 7e10 times higher than for normal saltation, while the transported grain size coincides with the lagged sediment in this basin composing different bedforms, varying between sandy gravel and gravelly sand. The third evidence is the quantification of the exported material by defining a reference surface as the initial time of evolution, and the present day surface. The initial surface is an alluvial surface of an estimated age of 11e12 ka. BP. Volume balance was achieved by a detailed topographic, stratigraphic and geophysical survey, reconstructing old alluvial and present surfaces. Two gridding methods were used, and more conservative results of the volume balance, indicate a total erosion of ca. 3.386 hm 3 of sediment in 72 Ha, spliced in 0.963 hm 3 of sediment that was left within the place forming gravel dunes, while the remaining volume of ca. 2.423 hm 3 is sediment truly exported from the surveyed area. Results imply a continuous blanket of ca. 4 m thick of sediment exported out of this basin in the Holocene. These findings prove that the Puna contribution to the Chaco-Pampean plain is significant, although not unique. Thus, true proportions of sediment contribution to soils and loess from these multiple sources should be better evaluated in future studies.

The new tools for 3D survey and modelling (as portable scanners and software packages), often in combination with diagnostics, are nowadays able to provide indispensable elements for the study of archaeological artefacts; their applications to museum's heritage can be also useful to integrate the traditional graphic documentation and contribute to enhancement and dissemination. This paper concerns the study of a peculiar find coming from the Greek necropolis of Lipára: the clay mask No. 11114-E, discovered in 1973 inside the tomb No. 1558 and now exhibited in the Classical Section of the Aeolian Museum. The specimen is considered unique both in the Aeolian Islands and in the ancient Greek world, as it is the only one merging two half faces attributable to different characters. This feature, unknown at the time of discovery, has been highlighted only in 2018, thanks to a restoration intervention by which a hard concretion covering a large portion of the surface of the mask has be...

The plains ripples of Meridiani Planum are the first paleo-aeolian bedforms on Mars to have had their last migration episode constrained in time (to ~50-200 ka). Here we test how variations in orbital configuration, air pressure, and atmospheric dust loading over the past 400 kyr affect bedform mobility and crest alignment. Using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Mars Global Climate Model, we ran a series of sensitivity tests under a number of different conditions, seeking changes in wind patterns relative to those modeled for present-day conditions. Results indicate that enhanced sand drift potential in Meridiani Planum correlates with (1) high axial obliquity, (2) a longitude of perihelion (L p) near southern summer solstice, and (3) a greater air pressure. The last pulse of westward plains ripple migration likely occurred during the most recent obliquity (relative) maximum, from 111 to 86 ka. At L p coinciding with southern summer solstice, the Mars Global Climate Model produced a westward resultant drift direction, consistent with the observed north-south plains ripple crest alignment. However, smaller superposed ripples, aligned NNE-SSW, are consistent with a strengthened northern summer Hadley return flow, occurring when L p coincided with northern summer solstice. The superposed NNE-SSW ripples likely formed as the axial obliquity decreased during the last relative maximum and L p swung toward northern summer, from 86 to 72 ka. The timeline of bedform activity supports the proposed sequence of CO 2 sequestration in the south polar residual cap over the past 400 kyr. Plain Language Summary Mars' climate is thought to have shifted dramatically over the past million years, as its axial tilt and orbit vary, and as its atmospheric pressure has changed. Our understanding of how these changes affect the Martian climate system is determined in part by using global climate models (GCMs). However, GCMs typically cannot be rigorously tested for accuracy because few surfaces on Mars can be dated accurately enough to nail down the timing of climate-related geological events. One exception is Meridiani Planum, which is covered by inactive windblown ripples that last migrated between 50,000 and 200,000 years ago. The known timing of this change in activity provides one of the few hard constraints that can be used to test Mars atmospheric models. We ran the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames Mars GCM using several different sets of atmospheric conditions that occurred in the past 400,000 years. We found that winds strong enough to mobilize the ripples last blew from 111,000 to 86,000 years ago, when Mars' axial tilt and air pressure were higher than today. This result aligns well with the previous dating of ripple activity, providing some confidence that Mars atmospheric models can correctly reproduce observed changes in Mars' climate history.

The identities of Count Roger I of Sicily's sons and the succession crisis that threatened to envelop the state he had worked for some 40 years to build have not yet been fully understood, notwithstanding attempts by a number of talented scholars to resolve the confusion. This study offers a solution to the question of the identities of his two sons named Geoffrey. Long confused on account of their names, it disentangles the two, using Roger's administrative documents and Geoffrey of Malaterra's The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of his Brother Duke Robert Guiscard to demonstrate that one was an illegitimate younger son while the older Geoffrey was the intended heir, a product of the count's first marriage. Important to this proposal is the frequent mistranslation of a word in Malaterra's chronicle as well as an overlooked clue in the surviving charter evidence. Building on this solution, the article then explores the fate of the older Geoffrey, the son who would have become the next count of Sicily and Calabria had he not suffered from a severe form of leprosy. It argues that Roger's concern for his son and for the future of his state need to be more fully considered and posits that two of his most important foundations-the monasteries of St. Bartholomew of Lipari and the Holy Savior of Patti-were physical expressions of his anxiety as he contemplated the future of his county. (Forthcoming)

The identities of Count Roger I of Sicily's sons and the succession crisis that threatened to envelop the state he had worked for some 40 years to build have not yet been fully understood, notwithstanding attempts by a number of talented scholars to resolve the confusion. This study offers a solution to the question of the identities of his two sons named Geoffrey. Long confused on account of their names, it disentangles the two, using Roger's administrative documents and Geoffrey of Malaterra's _The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria and Sicily and of his Brother Duke Robert Guiscard_ to demonstrate that one was an illegitimate younger son while the older Geoffrey was the intended heir, a product of the count's first marriage. Important to this proposal is the frequent mistranslation of a word in Malaterra's chronicle as well as an overlooked clue in the surviving charter evidence. Building on this solution, the article then explores the fate of the older Geoffrey, the son who would have become the next count of Sicily and Calabria had he not suffered from a severe form of leprosy. It argues that Roger's concern for his son and for the future of his state need to be more fully considered and posits that two of his most important foundations-the monasteries of St. Bartholomew of Lipari and the Holy Savior of Patti-were physical expressions of his anxiety as he contemplated the future of his county. (Forthcoming)

Gypsum (CaSO 4 Á2H 2 O) has been identified as a major component of part of Olympia Undae in the northern polar region of Mars, along with the mafic minerals more typical of Martian dune fields. The source and age of the gypsum is disputed, with the proposed explanations having vastly different implications for Mars' geological history. Furthermore, the transport of low density gypsum grains relative to and concurrently with denser grains has yet to be investigated in an aeolian setting. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a field study at White Sands National Monument (WSNM) in New Mexico, USA. Although gypsum dominates the bulk of the dune field, a dolomite-rich [CaMg(CO 3) 2 ] transport pathway along the northern border of WSNM provides a suitable analog site to study the transport of gypsum grains relative to the somewhat harder and denser carbonate grains. We collected samples along the stoss slope of a dune and on two coarse-grained ripples at the upwind margin of the dune field where minerals other than gypsum were most common. For comparison, additional samples were taken along the stoss slope of a dune outside the dolomite transport pathway, in the center of the dune field. Visible and near-infrared (VNIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and Raman analyses of different sample size fractions reveal that dolomite is only prevalent in grains larger than $1 mm. Other minerals, most notably calcite, are also present in smaller quantities among the coarse grains. The abundance of these coarse grains, relative to gypsum grains of the same size, drops off sharply at the upwind margin of the dune field. In contrast , gypsum dominated the finer fraction (<$1 mm) at all sample sites, displaying no spatial variation. Estimates of sediment fluxes indicate that, although mineralogical differentiation of wind-transported grains occurs gradually in creep, the process is much more rapid when winds are strong enough to saltate the P1 mm grains. The observed grain segregation is consistent with the WSNM dune field formative friction velocity (0.39 m/s) proposed by Jerolmack et al. (2011): winds significantly weaker than this value would not lift the large grains into differentiation-inducing saltation, whereas the observed differentiated trend would be obliterated by significantly stronger winds. When applied to Olympia Undae, a similar sediment flux analysis suggests that the strongest winds modeled by the Mars Climate Database (MCD) are consistent with the observed concentration of gypsum at dune crests. Density-driven differentiation in transport should not influence sediment fluxes of finer grains (<1 mm) as strongly on Earth, suggesting that the high ratio of fine gypsum grains to other minerals at WSNM is caused by a relatively high production and/or abrasion rate of gypsum sand. The observed preferential transport of coarse-grained gypsum in the dune field conceals a broader range of coarse-grained minerals present on Alkali Flat, contributing to the problem that mineralogy determined through both remote sensing of dune fields and analysis of dune foresets does not fully represent that of the source regions. Unlike quartz, the concentration of gypsum in WSNM occurs not because it is more resistant to weathering and erosion than other minerals, but rather because it is more readily produced (in the case of finer grains) and transported (in the case of coarser grains) than other minerals present in the region.

The new tools for 3D survey and modelling (as portable scanners and software packages), often in combination with diagnostics, are nowadays able to provide indispensable elements for the study of archaeological artefacts; their applications to museum's heritage can be also useful to integrate the traditional graphic documentation and contribute to enhancement and dissemination. This paper concerns the study of a peculiar find coming from the Greek necropolis of Lipára: the clay mask No. 11114-E, discovered in 1973 inside the tomb No. 1558 and now exhibited in the Classical Section of the Aeolian Museum. The specimen is considered unique both in the Aeolian Islands and in the ancient Greek world, as it is the only one merging two half faces attributable to different characters. This feature, unknown at the time of discovery, has been highlighted only in 2018, thanks to a restoration intervention by which a hard concretion covering a large portion of the surface of the mask has been removed, bringing to light a smiling young half-face next to an old one with Silenic features. In 2019, the mask has been surveyed in situ through a portable and performing laser-scanner arm (the Quantum TM FaroArm by FARO) with the aim to achieve a high-resolution 3D model useful to enhance the reading of the two halves (not so evident, due to its state of preservation). The data processing has been performed employing the software Geomagic Wrap able to align and merge multiple scans into a single model and to export it in multiple formats, easily shareable and viewable in free software or via the web. This method allowed, finally, the generation of a digital replica that could serve as a support for the hypothetical reconstruction of the two prototypes taken as a model by the craftsman for the creation of the mask, as well for dissemination.

The new tools for 3D survey and modelling (as portable scanners and software packages), often in combination with diagnostics, are nowadays able to provide indispensable elements for the study of archaeological artefacts; their applications to museum’s heritage can be also useful to integrate the traditional graphic documentation and contribute to enhancement and dissemination. This paper concerns the study of a peculiar find coming from the Greek necropolis of Lipara : the clay mask No. 11114-E, discovered in 1973 inside the tomb No. 1558 and now exhibited in the Classical Section of the Aeolian Museum. The specimen is considered unique both in the Aeolian Islands and in the ancient Greek world, as it is the only one merging two half faces attributable to different characters. This feature, unknown at the time of discovery, has been highlighted only in 2018, thanks to a restoration intervention by which a hard concretion covering a large portion of the surface of the mask has been ...

Abstract This paper presents the first attempt at qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating the sedimentary contribution of the Puna plateau to the loess and soils of the Argentinean Pampas. The origin of the Pampean sediment has been traditionally ascribed to northern Patagonia, but new evidence supports a dual supply: western Central Andes/North Patagonia and Puna/Altiplano Plateau. Three different lines of evidence show here that Puna dust supply is active and produces significant sedimentary deposition up to places like Buenos Aires city. The first evidence is meteorological and we show here one event related to an abnormal rainfall that deposited large quantities of a reddish-brownish silt eroded out from the Puna, calling the attention of the environmental agency of Buenos Aires city. The second evidence is the sampling of active wind transport collecting extremely coarse material carried out in the saltation layer, suggesting the fine grained material escapes the area as fugitive dust. This also demonstrates that observed gravel-bearing bedforms of the Puna are active, and that the transport system seems to be activated by polar fronts only. Results show that the saltation curtain is abnormally thick and coarse, suggesting that the kinetic energy peaks ca. 7–10 times higher than for normal saltation, while the transported grain size coincides with the lagged sediment in this basin composing different bedforms, varying between sandy gravel and gravelly sand. The third evidence is the quantification of the exported material by defining a reference surface as the initial time of evolution, and the present day surface. The initial surface is an alluvial surface of an estimated age of 11–12 ka. BP. Volume balance was achieved by a detailed topographic, stratigraphic and geophysical survey, reconstructing old alluvial and present surfaces. Two gridding methods were used, and more conservative results of the volume balance, indicate a total erosion of ca. 3.386 hm 3 of sediment in 72 Ha, spliced in 0.963 hm 3 of sediment that was left within the place forming gravel dunes, while the remaining volume of ca. 2.423 hm 3 is sediment truly exported from the surveyed area. Results imply a continuous blanket of ca. 4 m thick of sediment exported out of this basin in the Holocene. These findings prove that the Puna contribution to the Chaco-Pampean plain is significant, although not unique. Thus, true proportions of sediment contribution to soils and loess from these multiple sources should be better evaluated in future studies.