Owing to the decline in rainfall and intensified land use in the Sahel during the past 25 years, wind erosion is causing increasing problems in this region. The aim of the present paper is to identify possible sources for the material found in nebkhas in northern Burkina Faso. Nebkhas are plant-obstacle dunes that frequently occur in semiarid areas. Grain-size distributions of nebkha sediments and five other subenvironments were analyzed using univariate and multivariate methods. Quartz-grain surface textures were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The SEM and grain-size analyses together indicate that the nebkhas have experienced considerable recent aeolian abrasion and sorting as compared with the five other subenvironments. It was concluded that the material in the nebkhas investigated is local in origin and that it mainly has been eroded by wind from adjacent disturbed soils or deflated from loose material made available for wind erosion by sheet-wash processes. This means that wind erosion is an important process in the removal of topsoil in this Sahelian environment and that measures to reduce wind erosion should be taken to protect sensitive soils.
