Abstract
A playa usually refers to a salt desert landscape mainly composed of loose and fine lacustrine sediments. Severe wind erosion on a playa causes the playa to become a source of dust and salt dust and poses a threat to vast areas downwind. Currently, little is known about the impact of wind erosion on the particle size distribution of sediments in different landscapes in the playa. In the present study, six dominant different landscapes in a natural state with the same sedimentary environment in the playa of Ebinur Lake were selected to provide insights into the different characteristics of particle size distribution under the effect of long-term wind erosion. The results reveal that the grain-size composition clearly differed among different landscapes. All samples had a common dominant size group consisting of very fine sand and sand. The very fine sand and sand content of Haloxylon ammodendron desert zone (LS5) was the lowest, while the clay and silt content was the highest at both depths among the six landscapes. The lowest clay and silt fraction and highest sand fraction appeared in the herbal desert zone (LS3) at both depths. Almost all of the sediment samples were of a bimodal distribution mode, with significant differences. The cumulative curve showed a similar S-shape, while the probability cumulative curve showed an inverted S-shape with three subpopulations of granularity characteristics. The smallest mean particle diameter appeared in LS5. The majority of the sediments were moderately to poorly sorted. The mean particle size of the sediments from the six landscapes was significantly different (p < 0.05), while no significant difference was observed among the other three parameters. Generally, it can be inferred that LS5 can reduce wind speed effectively, probably due to the smaller leaves and dense branches of Haloxylon ammodendron, which results in a high level of coverage. The results of the present study will have some implications for the grain size characteristics for changes in intensity in regional wind erosion environment and will also have some basis for wind erosion prevention and control in the playa of Ebinur Lake.
Highlights
A playa usually refers to a discharging intracontinental basin with a negative water balance, remaining dry for 75% of the year, and is often associated with evaporites in arid and semi-arid land [1,2]
Little is known about the impact of wind erosion on the particle size distribution of sediments in different landscapes within the playa of Ebinur Lake in arid central Asia
Severe wind erosion on the surface sediments rich in sulphates and chlorides occur in spring and autumn, causing the playa of Ebinur Lake to be a source of dust and salt dust and posing a threat to farming and animal husbandry in vast areas downwind, as well as a serious threat to the ecological security of oases along the north-facing slope of the Tianshan Mountains
Summary
A playa usually refers to a discharging intracontinental basin with a negative water balance, remaining dry for 75% of the year, and is often associated with evaporites in arid and semi-arid land [1,2]. Anthropogenic activities related to water resource consumption and land resource excess reclamation have caused a great negative impact on the water balance within tail-end lake basins in the past few decades, leading to the rapid shrinking or drying up of tail-end lakes, such as Ebinur Lake in the western lowest part of the Junggar basin [8], Lop Nor in the Tarim Basin [9], the Aral Sea and Balkhash Lake in central Asia [10,11,12,13], Hamoun Lake [14] and Urmia Lake [15,16,17] in Iran, the Owen Lake and the Salton Sea in USA [18], and Chad Lake in North Africa [19,20]. Strong wind erosion on salt desert landscapes leads to the frequent occurrence of dust storms (dust, sand, salt-alkali dust and salt-alkaline mixed dust storms) from playas, which have imposed and will continue to impose negative effects on the growth of animals and plants, pollute the air and water quality, endanger human health, and even lead to the deterioration of regional ecosystems and the natural environment after long-distance transmission by means of natural airflow [20,23,24,25,26]
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