An Experimental Study of Wind Abrasion

Abstract

Rocks were abraded by a sand-laden air-jet in the laboratory to examine the quantitative relationships between wind abrasion and wind velocity, quantity and grain-size of windblown sand particles, and physical properties of the target rocks. The results of 101 runs are expressed by an experimental equation with dimensionless constant, which indicates that the rate of abrasion is directly related to the kinetic energy of the sand projectiles and inversely proportional to the compressive strength of the target rocks. A tentative extension of the experimental equation to field condition leads to an equation for the wind abrasion in fields. An application of the latter equation to the natural settings is preliminarily examined by comparing it with Sharp's (1964) field experiments, and a plausible result is obtained.