Grain size characteristics of aeolian sands and their implications for the aeolian dynamics of dunefields within a river valley on the southern Tibet Plateau: A case study from the Yarlung Zangbo river valley

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2020.104794

CATENA

Volume 196, January 2021, 104794

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104794 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Grain size of aeolian sands in Yarlung Zangbo valley was firstly fully analyszed.
•
Grain size distribution and its relations were intentified on three spatial scales.
•
Sand source, wind regime, and dune morphology play different roles in three valleys.
•
Interdunes provide sediments to dunes following McLaren Case I or IIIB.

Abstract

Typical aeolian landforms have developed in China’s Yarlung Zangbo River valley, which is on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Fully understanding the grain size characteristics of these dunefields is the first step to reveal the region’s aeolian dynamics. We selected three distinctive dunefields for grain size analysis: the Maquan, Shannan, and Mainling valley dunefields. At the scale of individual dunes, we found a trend for sands on the dune surface, with the sediments gradually becoming finer towards the crest, gradually becoming coarser, or exhibiting an asymmetric M-shaped distribution. In Maquan valley, these patterns resulted from interactions between the local airflow and local sands with a diameter of 2.0–2.5 Φ (177–250 μm). The asymmetric M-shaped distribution in the Shannan valley was mainly controlled by the positions on a dune and valley winds. The slightly coarser crests in Mainling valley were controlled by sands that are easily entrained by the wind (2.00–3.00 Φ or 125–250 μm) and that undergo saltation. At a dunefield scale, strong winds that entrained medium sands cause these sands to accumulate downwind in Maquan valley. Multi-directional winds combined with a limited sand supply (1.74–2.30 Φ or 203–299 μm) favored a stable aeolian environment in Shannan valley. The saltating sands produced by these winds build dunes under a constantly erosive wind regime in Mainling valley. Wind transported interdune sediments is an important local source for building dunes. The gradual variation of grain sizes moving downstream and the distinct evolution history of dunefield in Maquan valley as compared to Shannan and Mainling valleys may suggest the existence of a spatial connection among dune sands along the main stream of the Yarlung Zangbo River.

Introduction

Widely distributed aeolian landforms have been described in the valley of southwestern China’s Yarlung Zangbo River (Yang, 1984, Li et al., 1997, Li et al., 1999), located at the southern Tibet Plateau. These aeolian landforms are superimposed on the valley’s landforms and embedded in areas of grassland or forest, creating a unique landscape. The region’s striking aeolian landforms are concentrated mainly in the wide valleys of the Yarlung Zangbo River, including Maquan, Xikaze, Shannan, and Mainling valleys (Fig. 1A), which are densely populated. Strong and widespread aeolian activity in the valley threatens the survival of local people (Zhang et al., 2018a). Furthermore, the aeolian landforms develop in a region that is well-known for its fragile ecology and high sensitivity to global climate change (Zhang et al., 2018a). Therefore, improving our understanding of the aeolian dynamics in this region would provide strong support for planning measures to control aeolian sand transport and protect both the people and their vulnerable ecological environment.

By theoretically analyzing the interactions among water flows, wind action and aeolian sands, Li et al., 1997, Li et al., 1999 proposed a model for the evolution of dunefields in which sand dunes developed from a primary zone (eyots and river flats) through a main-body zone (low river terrace) to a vanishing zone (high terrace, diluvial fan and valley-side slope), where climbing and falling dunes began to decline and vanish. Zhou et al. (2014) firstly defined the aeolian landforms in Mainling valley as an “aeolian sand belt”, and presented a model that the aeolian dunefields in the belt appear to evolve from embryonic parabolic dunefields to adolescent barchan dunefields and subsequently to mature compound crescentic dunefields. Liu et al. (1997) compared sand grain sizes between aeolian, alluvial, fluvial, eluvial, and loess deposits, and inferred that nearby fluvial deposits were the main sediment sources for local aeolian dunes in Xigaze valley, in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River. Du et al. (2018) analyzed the geochemical characteristics of the valley’s sediments, and inferred that the aeolian deposits originated locally from loess deposits rather than from fluvial sediments in the river’s upper reaches. Although these previous studies provided some insights into the aeolian processes in the valley, they fail to provide a comprehensive picture of the overall sedimentary and aeolian environments and their effects on the valley’s dunefields.

The grain-size distribution in sediment deposits plays a major role in revealing the sources, transport mechanisms, and sedimentary environments in aeolian systems (Friedman and Sanders, 1978, Pye and Tsoar, 1990, Lancaster, 1995). Spatial and temporal variations in grain size provide preliminary information for tracing sand sources (McLaren, 1981, Lancaster and Ollier, 1983, Zhu et al., 2014). The statistical distribution of various grain-size characteristics, such as the mean grain size and skewness, also provides a good indicator of how aeolian dynamics control the modes of sand movement (creep, saltation, and suspension) and the masses that are transported (Cheng et al., 2015). Grain-size characteristics are also commonly used to infer the aeolian depositional environment because the size range, mixing, and sorting of sediment populations vary systematically in response to sedimentary processes, the dynamics of these processes, and the provenance of the sediments (Visher, 1969).

A good first step would be a more complete understanding of the grain size characteristics of the valley’s aeolian dunefields. To provide some of the missing data, we selected Maquan valley (in the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River), Shannan valley (in the middle reaches), and Mainling valley (in the lower to middle reaches). Our goal was to better understand the following: (i) the spatial distribution of the characteristics of aeolian sands, and the relationships among them, at three scales: single dunes, within a dunefield, and along the transect from the upper to the lower reaches of the river. (ii) The implications of grain-size characteristics for aeolian dynamics at the dune surface, both within the dunefield and along the river. (iii) The possible sources for sediments in the dunefields in Maquan, Shannan, and Mainling valleys. We hypothesized that the grain-size characteristics would differ among the three scales and among the valleys, but that there would be a spatial connection between dunefields in the upstream and downstream reaches.

Section snippets

Study area

The Yarlung Zangbo River is located in the southern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, in the northern foothills of the Himalaya Mountains, between 28°00′N and 31°16′N and between 82°00′E and 97°07′E. The Yarlung Zangbo River, the region’s dominant river system, originates in the Jima Yangzong Glacier on the northern slope of the Himalaya, and flows through the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon (Fig. 1A). The river’s main stream is 2057 km long and the river’s watershed

Dune morphology

Based on detailed morphometric measurements in the field and via remotely sensed images, we analyzed three typical aeolian landforms that have developed in the headwaters area, middle reaches, and lower to middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River (Fig. 1). Three very high resolution satellite panchromatic images (Worldview-1 Ortho Ready Standard Level-2A, DigitalGlobe Inc., Longmont, Colorado, USA) (http://www.digitalglobe.com/) covering the three areas were acquired on October 25, 2014,

General grain size composition and distribution

Table 2 and Fig. 3 (details in Appendix A1 and A2) summarize the grain-size fractions and parameters for our samples in the Yarlung Zangbo River valley.

Overall, Mz of the aeolian sands ranged from 1.27 Ф to 2.74 Ф, and averaged 2.12 ± 0.26 Ф. Medium and fine sands accounted for more than 85% of the total volume of all grain sizes, followed by very fine sands at 8%, coarse sands at 4%, and very coarse sands and silt both at less than 1%. Sediments in the interdune areas had finer grain sizes

Grain-size distribution patterns and their implications for aeolian dynamics at dune -interdune scale

For the barchans or transverse dunes in Maquan, Shannan, and Mainling valleys, the sediments became gradually coarser or finer moving upwards from the dune toes towards the crest, and we also identified an M-shaped distribution pattern, all of which also existed in various other aeolian environments, including the edges of a desert, a coastal desert, and river terraces (details in Appendix A3).

There are some key factors that could explain for the three grain size distribution patterns on a

Conclusions

At a dune scale, we observed three distribution patterns for grain size with increasing height on the dune surface: gradually becoming finer, gradually becoming coarser, and an asymmetric M-shaped distribution. All three patterns are present in Maquan valley, and they appear to be controlled mainly by airflow on the dune surface and local sands in the 2.0–2.5 Φ size class. The common asymmetric M-shaped distribution in Shannan valley appears to be mainly caused by positions on a dune combined

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41401006) and the State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology project (2017-KF-02).

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¹: These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Grain size characteristics of aeolian sands and their implications for the aeolian dynamics of dunefields within a river valley on the southern Tibet Plateau: A case study from the Yarlung Zangbo river valley

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Study area

Dune morphology

General grain size composition and distribution

Grain-size distribution patterns and their implications for aeolian dynamics at dune -interdune scale

Conclusions

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgments

Geomorphology

Geomorphology

Geomorphology

Sed. Geol.

Aeolian Res.

Aeolian Res.

Global Planet. Change

Quat. Sci. Rev.

Sed. Geol.

Sci. Total Environ.

Aeolian Res.

Geomorphology

Sed. Geol.

Selection of dune shapes and velocities Part 1: dynamics of sand, wind and barchans

Eur. Phys. J. B - Condensed Matter

The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes

Climate properties and sandstorm causes in Tibet Plateau

J. Desert Res.

Variation in particle size distribution over a small dune

Sedimentology

Characteristics of particle size for creeping and saltating sand grains in aeolian transport

Sedimentology

Dynamics of wind erosion: initiation of soil movement by wind I. Soil structure

Soil Sci.

Intradune flats of the Algodones chain, Imperial Valley, California

Geol. Soc. Am. Bull.

Morphometric analysis of slipface processes of an aeolian dune: implications for grain-flow dynamics

Sedimentology

Aeolian Geomorphology in the Kumtagh Desert

Geochemical characteristics of fine and coarse fractions of sediments in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin (southern Tibet, China)

Environ. Earth Sci.

Discrimination between depositional environments using grain-size analyses

Sedimentology

Pattern analysis of dune-field parameters

Earth Surf. Processes Landforms

Longitudinal dunes of the northwestern edge of the Simpson Desert, Northern Territory, Australia. 1 Geomorphology and grain size relationships

Sedimentology

Brazos River bar: a study in the significance of grain size parameters

J. Sediment. Petrol.

Toward a model for airflow on the lee side of aeolian dunes

Sedimentology

Principles of Sedimentology

Dune forms and wind regime