Morphometric characteristics of Yardangs in the Lut Desert, Iran

Abstract

Yardangs are one of the most amazing geomorphic features of Lut desert, Iran developed in alluvial deposits of Pleistocene. They appear as the streamlined hills that are separated by U-shaped troughs with a flat-topped. The study of yardang’s morphometric parameters is important to define their morphological indices. In This study, we describe the morphology of yardangs in the Lut playa, analyze the wind factor, and discuss their development processes. Up to 132 yardangs have been identified and measured by linear sampling method along 9 transects (with 10 km length) located on digital elevation model (10×10 m) in the Global Mapper software. The obtained results of simple regression showed the central and the northern areas have the maximum correlation respectively between the width and length of yardangs. The length-to-width ratio is close to 3.5:1. The yardangs size and height in the center and north of the region are more than the southern side. This represents further evolution of yardangs where exist in the south and side of region. Wind and water erosion plays a particularly important role in this process.