Characteristics of Airborne Particles Produced by Wind Erosion of Sandy Soil, High Plains of West Texas

Experimental investigation of the concentration profile of a blowing sand cloud

“…Two approaches have been used to study the concentration profile of blowing sand clouds: uses of wind tunnels under controlled conditions (Chepil and Woodruff, 1957;Williams, 1964;Gillette and Walker, 1977;Zhu, 1996) and analytical approaches (Owen, 1964;Anderson and Haff, 1988;Sorensen and McEwan, 1996;Wu et al, 2002). Chepil and Woodruff (1957) related the concentration of eroded soil particles near the surface to height using a power function, whereas Zhu (1996) related sand concentration to height using an exponential function.…”

Dust Generated by Vehicular Traffic on Unpaved Roadways: Sizes and Infrared Extinction Characteristics

“…We conclude that both the action of sandblasting responsible for the generation of blowing dust (Gillette and Walker, 1977) and the action of gristing responsible for generation of vehicular dust, although fundamentally different, lead to similar bimodal size distributions. As we see in the next section, both blowing dust and vehicular dust also have similar composition.…”

Eolian sedimentation and soil development on a semiarid to subhumid grassland, Tertiary Ogallala and Quaternary Blackwater Draw formations, Texas and New Mexico High Plains

“…Johnson (1965) observed that the strongest winds on the High Plains occurred during drought years, and that atmospheric dust is more common during dry periods because higher-than-average soil temperatures during droughts result in unusually turbulent air and stronger, gusty winds near the surface. Clay is a significant component of dust in the region (Warn and Cox 1951;LaPrade 1957;Gillette and Walker 1977;Holliday 1988), and aerosolic clays probably are an important source of the illuvial clay in the Bt horizons of soils of the region (Goss et al 1973). Calcium carbonate dust and Ca 2ϩ in rainwater are the primary sources of calcium carbonate in soils in the southwestern US (Gile et al 1981;Machette 1985).…”