1  Cover

      2  Title Page

      3  Copyright

      4  Foreword

      5  Introduction: Aeolian Dynamics and Processes I.1 Conditions and environments in which wind acts I.2 Aeolian processes I.3 References

      6  1 Aeolian Landforms in Deserts 1.1. Forms and surface states 1.2. Ablation forms 1.3. Accumulation formations 1.4. Aeolian systems 1.5 Ergs, the most complex aeolian systems 1.6 Conclusion: a new paradigm to explain the organization and orientation of active dunes 1.7. Martian dunes, still mobile… 1.8. References

      7  2 Humans and Winds in Deserts 2.1 Traditional societies and the wind 2.2. The battle against sand encroachment, or the Barrel of the Danaids: the Zouerate railroads (Mauritania) 2.3 The Dust Bowl, the first ecological disaster of the 20th century in a developed country 2.4. The western Algerian Green Barrier, or an error in management 2.5. References

      8  3 Living in Deserts 3.1. Humans and the desert 3.2. Bedouin civilizations 3.3. Hydraulic civilization 3.4. A salt civilization? 3.5. Urban civilizations in the desert 3.6. Conclusion 3.7. References

      9  List of Authors

      10  Index

      11  End User License Agreement

      1 IntroductionFigure I.1. A sandy spit that curves around relief in the SE of the Tibesti rang...Figure I.2. Spontaneous Markouba steppes protecting the Nouadhibou – Zouerate ra...Figure I.3. Distribution of areas with wind deposits around the globe (as per Th...Figure I.4. SEM image of a wind-blown sand grain (in the Taghit region of Algeri...Figure I.5. Relation between the ablation velocity, fall velocity and granulomet...Figure I.6. Dust falling over Aleg (Mauritania) in April 2001. Colors not modifi...Figure I.7. How the roughness of the substrate influences saltation (as per Bagn...Figure I.8. Blowing sand in the Tassili of Hoggar, between Tamanrasset and In Gu...Figure I.9. The mechanism of formation of a deflation pavement: (A) the initial ...Figure I.10. A vehicle that has “fallen” into a fech fech outcrop of the Mekhera...Figure I.11. Satellite image of the area where the “river of sand” begins in Cap...Figure I.12. Views of the soil in the area where the “sandy river” of Cape Juby ...

      2 Chapter 1Figure 1.1. Reg. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk/bourrie/...Figure 1.2. A serir close to Doush (south of the Kharga depression, Western Dese...Figure 1.3. Discontinuous rust layer in the Kharga depression (Western Desert, E...Figure 1.4. Dreikanter in Ténéré (Niger) (photos F.M. Callot). For a color versi...Figure 1.5. Corrasion lines on a sandstone outcrop in Nubia, in the Kharga depre...Figure 1.6. Corrasion grooves on a limestone block that is about 1.5 m high, loc...Figure 1.7. Árbol de Piedra, a mushroom rock that is 7 m in height in the high-a...Figure 1.8. Yardang in a homogeneous coherent rock in a region with monodirectio...Figure 1.9. Line of yardangs along an Appalachian outcrop of hard rock in the Se...Figure 1.10. Yardangs in the Doush region (Kharga depression, Western Desert, Eg...Figure 1.11. Overview of the Ridge-Corridor system in the SE of the Tibesti (sou...Figure 1.12. The central region of kaluts in the Lut desert (Iran) (source: Goog...Figure 1.13. Ridge-Corridor Systems (RCS) in the Lut desert (Iran) (source: Goog...Figure 1.14. El Hobeur hydro-aeolian depression, to the west of the Oued Namous ...Figure 1.15. Area with sand nappages in presaharan Tunisia. In a case like this,...Figure 1.16. Relationships between the topography, wind direction and aeolian sa...Figure 1.17. Ripple marks on the two faces of a sif (north of the Grand Erg Occi...Figure 1.18. Megaripples. For a color version of this figure, see www.iste.co.uk...Figure 1.19. Diagram and cross-section of a nabkhaFigure 1.20. Schematic cross-section of a rebdouFigure 1.21. Rebdous at the foot of Issaouanne n’Tiffernine (Algeria). The struc...Figure 1.22. Zibars in the Erg of Fachi-Bilma (Chad-Niger). For a color version ...Figure 1.23. Stratification within a sif (according to Tsoar (1982)). Note the n...Figure 1.24. The chief components of the barchan (plane and cross-section, accor...Figure 1.25. Crumbling slope of a barchan, near Tarfaya (Morocco). The gently sl...Figure 1.26. The transition from a shield, a shape with no defined edges, to a b...Figure 1.27. Barchan formations to the east of (NW Mauritania) with all the inte...Figure 1.28. Barchan, called “Dune Coursin”, close to Boulanouar (NW Mauritania)...Figure 1.29. Barchans with wings in opposite directions 8 km south of Tarfaya (M...Figure 1.30. Orientation of silks (source: Google Earth)Figure 1.31. The simplest kind of ghourd (Algeria, Grand Erg Occidental, NW of T...Figure 1.32. Ghourd with four edges converging on the summit, or top, in the Nam...Figure 1.33. Large, complex ghourds at the meridional end of the Issaouane n’Tif...Figure 1.34. The ksar of Taghit, at the foot of the ghourds on the western borde...Figure 1.35. Two types of Aklés in Algeria (source: Google Earth)Figure 1.36. The lunette at the Sebkha d’Oran (sketch) constructed leeward of th...Figure 1.37. Sand arrows leeward of the Fachi “cliff” on the meridional border o...Figure 1.38. Two dextrous elbs about a 100 km to the NW of Dirkou (Niger) (sourc...Figure 1.39. Draas in Algeria (source: Google Earth)Figure 1.40. A sahane surrounded by ghourds, silks and aklés in Edeyen d’Oubari ...Figure 1.41. Feidj in the Erg of Fachi-Bilma (Niger), almost entirely covered in...Figure 1.42. Renewed erosion