yardang

yar·dang

(yär′däng′)

A long, sharp ridge of soft, clearly differentiated sediments rising between two troughs made by wind or water erosion and extending parallel to the direction of the wind or water flow.

[Of Uyghur dialectal (Tarim Basin) origin, equivalent to modern standard Uyghur yardin, ablative of yar, ridge, steep bank; akin to, Old Turkic yar.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

yardang

(ˈjɑːˌdɑːŋ)

(Physical Geography) a rocky ridge in the desert formed by wind erosion

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

References in periodicals archive ?

In addition, they will explore Karamay city by visiting historical and scenic areas, such as Blackoil Mountain, Karamay Museum and the Ghost City Yardang Landform Scenic Area.

Pak teachers, doctors receive training in China

Nonetheless, the text is informative and I did come across the odd term I'd not heard before, such as 'yardang' [defined by Wikipedia as 'a wind-abraded ridge found in a desert environment'].

Galaxy: Exploring the Milky Way

Geology and archeology of the Yardang Flint Station.

Exploratory models of intersite variability in mid to late Holocene central Alaska

Working in the studio and setting up his own business at the same time, he aimed to have the largest art studio in San Antonio and ended up with the largest art studio in Texas and aimed it into an advertising agency with business partner Ed Yardang.

Lionel Sosa: marketing visionary who changed political history: head of Garcia KS

He contrasts the ridges with another bedrock form called a yardang, which has been carved over time by headwinds.

New class of landform detected on Mars

(Yardangs are ridges formed when winds erode the rock's surrounding material.)

Curiosity's Discoveries on Mars

Within the crater are peculiarly layered buttes, known as yardangs.

Images of crater show evidence for climate evolution on Mars

The ridges, called yardangs, extend as long as 150 kilometers (100 miles) with heights of 75 meters (250 feet).

Hottest spot on earth found in Iran!

The geoscientists figured out wind's rock-sculpting abilities by studying gigantic wind-formed ridges of rock called yardangs. Huge fields of yardangs that can be seen from space look like corduroy.