Vertical distribution of wind-blown sand flux in the surface layer, Taklamakan Desert, Central Asia

The vertical distribution of the wind-blown sand flux in a 40-cm flow layer above the ground surface was investigated through laboratory wind-tunnel tests and field measurements on the mobile dune surface during sand storms in the Taklamakan Desert of China. Results show that vertical distribution of the horizontal mass flux of drifting sand is a discontinuous function of height. More than 90% of the total material is transported in the flow layer from the surface to 14 cm. From 2 to 4 cm above the surface, a distinct transition zone occurs wherein mixed transport by creep, saltation, and suspension becomes saltation and suspension. The flow layer from 14 to 15 cm represents a further transition from saltation to suspension, where the distribution curves of the transport rate against height converge. The basic natural exponential function cannot describe well the vertical distribution of the saltation mass flux in the Taklamakan Desert. As a function of height, saltation mass flux follows a function q(salt) = a'Z(-bz), and the distribution of suspension mass flux fits the power function very well. A total transport rate from surface creep to saltation and suspension in the measured flow layer, which is directly proportional to the effective wind speed squared (V - V-t)(2), can be predicted by integrating Q = a'Z-(bZ) + cZ(-d). The height distribution of the average quantities of transported materials varies as an exponential function of wind speed, and deceases with the increase in total transport quantity. Higher wind speed results in a higher transport rate and a higher vertical gradient for the particle concentration. The increment of relative transport quantity in the higher flux layer increases as wind speed increases, which generates a higher concentration of drifting particles in the upper flow layer.