Sand Dunes of the Northern Hemisphere, Volume 1 Distribution, Formation, Migration and Management

About this book

Sand dunes are common aeolian landforms and are found on over ~40% of the Earth's land surface. The distribution and characteristics of sand dunes in the northern hemisphere are the major focus. Practical advice on how to deal with migrating dunes and a description of proven practices are presented. The application of recently available high-resolution satellite data for mapping and change detection and a summary of advances in techniques for characterizing the mineralogy of sand is explained. The target audience of this book will be those working in the fields of arid land studies, geoinformatics, social sciences, and landscape ecology.

Key features:
- Present a synthesis of past work, 'connect the dots' so that the work of physical geographers, geomorphologists, physicists and climatologists, hydrologists, and related fields can be made available within one book.
- Exhaustively reviews the key recent research on the typology, distribution, formation and current status of sand dunes.
- Provides a synoptic overview of the current problems and prospects for controlling migrating sand dunes that threaten infrastructure, and encroach on agricultural land and urban areas.
- Demonstrates the utility of new advanced monitoring techniques such as high-resolution satellite imagery and specialized laboratory equipment to study the mineralogy and structure of dune sands.

Contents

Part 1. Methodologies for the study and utilization of sand dunes
1. A review of the development in the remote sensing of sand dunes
2. A new approach for studying the occurrence and characteristics of coastal sand dunes, ofEgypt
3. Study of the seasonal evolution of unstable bordering sand dunes of South East Tunisia
4. Economic heavy metals in the coastal area between north of the Nile Delta

Part 2. Saharan Africa
5. Sand dunes on the south- eastern Sahara of Morocco: genesis, morphodynamic and socio-economic impact
6. Sand dunes and sand encroachment in Moroccan Sahara, current situation, threat and perspective
7. Characterization of sand dunes in the western Erg of the Algerian Sahara
8. Saharan Sand Dunes: Causes, Impacts and Remedies in the Sudan

Part 3. Middle East and Gulf Region
9. Beach build up, coastal aoelian sand incursions off the Nile littoral cell during the Holocene
10. Geomorphology and sustainable management for the sand dunes of Kuwait
11. Sand dunes: physical and chemical variations in Iraq and Kuwait
12. Barchan dunes in Egypt

Part 4. Middle East: Dune mobility
13. Sand dune migration as a factor of environmental risk on western desert of Egypt
14. Sand dune creeping and its consequence on cultivated land development projects and Protected Areas
15. Human and climate impacts on the mobility of sand dunes in Israel
16. Dust events and sand dunes in the major dessicated lake
17. Morphology and migration of sand dunes in Ladakh, India

Part 5. Dunes and dune systems in China
18. Commentary on China's extensive and unique dune systems: formation, evolution and forcing mechanism
19. Formation, evolution and forcing mechanisms of feather-like dunes inChina
20. Formation of the megadunes of the Badain Jaran
21. Formation, distribution and evolution on Gobi desert in China
22. Formation, distribution and evolution of sand dunes in China's Tibetan Plateau
23. Formation, distribution and evolution of sand dunes along China's coasts

Part 6. Dunes and dune systems in North Asia
24. Characteristics, dynamics and provenance of sand dunes in the inland rivers of China
25. High altitude Aeolian desertification and sand dunes on the Tibetan Plateau
26. Aeolian sand dunes in the permafrost zone of Russia
27. Dune massifs of Russia
28. The main geographical features and landforms of Uzbekistan's deserts
29. Dune Dynamics and human impact in Tottori sand dunes, and tectonically active area, Japan

Part 7. Dunes and dune systems of India's Thar desert
30. The Thar desert: an overview
31. Geomorphology and chronology of dunes in the Thar desert: a review of recent progress
32. Climatic implications of the late Pleistocene-Holocene dune dynamics in the southern desert margin
33. Late quaternary Paleo-environments of the Eastern margins of the Thar Desert, India
34. Geospatial diversity, geologic significance and evolutionary trends of parabolic dunes in the Thar Desert

Part 8. Coastal dune systems of the Indian sub-continent
35. The Coastal sand dunes along the western shores of India
36. Coastal sand dunes of south India
37. The aeolian deposits along the coastal zone of Sri Lanka
38. Characteristics of coastal dunes in Bangladesh: morphology and ecology

Part 9. Uniting Perspectives, Synthesis and Conclusions / Lu Qi, Mahesh K. Gaur and Victor R. Squires

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Biography

Prof Lu Qi is Chief Scientist and Director of the Institute of Desertification Studies in the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF).