GEOLOGICAL WORK OF WIND

I.WIND EROSION
Erosion is defined as the set of natural processes that loosen, remove and transport weathered or
unweathered solid material such as soil, sediment, mud, regolith, rock fragments and other particles from
the landscape by downhill or downwind displacement.
Wind erosion is referred to as eolian erosion.
Wind erosion is a natural process that moves soil from one location to another by wind power.
Differences in atmospheric pressure will cause the motion of air that can erode surface material when
velocities are high enough to move particles.
Eolian erosion is more pronounced in dry regions and in areas where there is insufficient rainfall to
support vegetation and root systems.
PRIMARY PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH WIND EROSION
DEFLATION
➢ Deflation is the process of the removal of particles of dust and sand by strong winds.
➢ Deflation is the process where wind removes surface materials.
➢ It is the main process of wind erosion in desert regions.
➢ When wind blows over the land it picks up small particles of sediment. This sediment is made of
pieces of silt and clay. The stronger the wind, the bigger the sediment it can carry. Sediment such
as sand bounces and rolls along the ground because it is too heavy to be picked up.
➢ In some deserts, deflation may cause the removal of sand from a particular location to such an
extent that a big enough depression is created, sometimes with its base touching the water table
at quite a depth.
❖ Blowouts are depressions that are developed on a small scale and of shallower depth.
❖ Oasis are also depressions with much deeper and extensive depression where the water
table is intersected and gets partially filled with water.
WIND ABRASION
➢ Abrasion is the process of erosion produced by the suspended particles that impact on solid
objects.
➢ It is the removal of material from rock or soil by the impact of saltating sand
➢ Abrasion is a type of erosion involving rubbing, grinding, abrading, and polishing the rock surfaces
by any natural agent (wind, water or ice) with the help of its load while passing over the rocks.
➢ In this process, wind becomes a powerful agent for rubbing and abrading the rock surfaces when
naturally loaded with sand and dust particles.
GEOLOGICAL FEATURES BY WIND ABRASION
❖ YARDANGS
• Yardangs are elongated, low-lying ridges forming overhangs above local depressions.
• Sometimes referred to as a “wind-eroded ridge” or just a “ridge”, is a distinctive geological feature
shaped by forces such as wind and water erosion.
• It commonly occurs in groups and are formed in areas where rocks of alternate hard and soft
character are laying one above anther with a general gentle slope.
• When a rock formation is attacked repeatedly by wind loaded with abrasive sand grains, and
blowing in the same direction, the softer layer of the formation get abraded quickly, leaving the
harder layers of the formation in the form of overhanging ridge.
❖ PEDESTAL ROCKS
• is a naturally occurring rock whose shape, as its name implies, resembles a mushroom. It is a
typical mushroom-shaped landform that is formed by the action of wind erosion
• often called as mushroom rocks because of their likeness to mushroom popping up closely in a
level land.
• These are flat-topped rock masses that are characterized with slender supporting stems. The top
is commonly referred as overhang while the stem as pedestal.
• The overhang and the pedestal are of the same rock that has been eroded by the wind quite
evenly resulting in the mushroom like appearance of the rock mass.
❖ VENTIFACTS
• A ventifact (also wind-faceted stone) is a rock that has been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or
polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals.
 •Small sized rock fragments showing one, two or three or even more typically wind-polished
surfaces called faces.
• The polishing of different sides of originally rough fragments is caused by prolonged wind
abrasion.
• These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments where there is little
vegetation to interfere with aeolian particle transport, where there are frequently strong winds, and
where there is a steady but not overwhelming supply of sand.
• Ventifacts are wind polished and facetted rock fragments
❖ DESERT PAVEMENTS
• A desert pavement is a desert surface covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or
rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobble size.
• These are flat rock surfaces covered by rounded or sub rounded pebbles spread all over them
and are typical features of desert rocks.
• These rocks were initially covered with fine particles of clay, silt, and sand that have been
removed by wind action.
• The concentration of pebbles over the surface is a particularly distinguishing feature of desert
pavements.
• When pebbles get coated with oxide film or desert varnish, it gives a characteristic brown, dark
red or even black appearance to the desert pavements.
ATTRITION BY WIND
➢ The sand grains and other particles lifted by the winds from different places are carried aways to
considerable distances. At that time, the particles are not moved in straight lines because the
particles are not of the same weight and the wind velocity varies from the base to the top of the
current. The grains moved in a zigzag fashion, colliding with one another again and again.
➢ Attrition is the wear and tear of load sediments suffered by them due to mutual impacts during
the transport process. And because of this process, the rock sizes reduces.

II. DEPOSITION BY WIND

Aeolian Deposits: Sediments and particles once picked up by the wind from any source on the surface
are carried forward for varying distances depending on the carrying capacity of the wind. Wherever and
whenever the velocity of wind suffers a check from one reason or another a part or whole of the wind load
is deposited at that place.
Load dropped by wind in a particle region may be very small or of considerable volume. These
wind made deposits may ultimately take the shapes of landforms that are commonly referred as
Aeolian Deposits.
DUNES:
➢ These are variously shaped deposits of sand grade particles accumulated by wind.
➢ A typical sand dune is defined as broad conical heap of sand characterized with two slopes on either
side of a medial ridge or crest.
➢ A dune is normally developed when a sand laden wind comes across some obstruction. Obstruction
is a small bush or raised surface or even a pre-existing sand heap. The obstruction causes some
check in the velocity of the wind, which is compelled to drop some load particles along, against or
over the construction.
➢ When the process is continued for a long time, the accumulating sand takes the shape of mound or a
ridge meeting the definition of a dune. A typical dune is characterized with a gentle lee ward wind and
a steep leeward slope.

LOESS:
➢ Typical loess is unconsolidated, unstratified and porous accumulation of particles of the size range
0.01-0.05mm in diameter. This size fraction makes almost 40 percent of a particular loess deposit,
rest being made up of still finer clay grade material.
➢ When the wind drops fine particles of silt and clay, it forms deposits called loess. Loess deposits form
vertical cliffs and become a thick, rich soil.
➢ Loess is formed from high accumulation of windblown dust that is trapped, deposited, and preserved
on certain landscapes. After deposition, dust will be altered by weathering and soil forming processes
and is held in place by vegetation.
III. SEDIMENT TRANSPORT BY WIND
Sediment transport is the movement of solid particles, typically due to a combination of gravity acting on
the sediment, and/or the movement of the wind in which the sediment is entrained.
Sediment Transport occurs in natural systems where the particles are plastic rocks, mud, or clay; and the
force of gravity acts to move the particles along the sloping surface on which they are resting. Sediment
transport on terrestrial surfaces occur under the influence of wind.
Sediment transport by wind is an important aspect of geological work of wind and needs to be discussed
under three specific heads.
SOURCE OF SEDIMENTS
➢ Sediments is a solid material that is moved and deposition in a new location. It consists of rocks and
minerals, as well as remains of plants and animals. It can be small as a grain of sand or as large as a
boulder. Sediment moves from one place to another through the work of wind
➢ The wind is an active agent of sediment transport in nature. Materials of fine particles size such as
clay, silt and sand occurring on the surface of the earth are transported in huge volumes from one
place to another in different regions of the world.
➢ WIND LOAD is often called as the material carried by the wind. A great part of the wind load is
contributed by dry incoherent regions like sand deserts and freshly ploughed fields. Some load is also
acquired by the wind itself from its abrasive action over the surface of rocks
METHODS OF TRANSPORT
The wind transport is carried out mainly by two distinctly different processes
SUSPENSION - the light density clay and silt particles may be lifted by the wind from the ground and are
carried high up to the upper layer of the wind. This is called transport in suspension, because the
particles once lifted are not allowed to rest to the ground again till the velocity in those upper regions is
checked considerably.
SALTATION: the heavier and coarse sediments such as sand grains, pebbles and gravel are lifted up
periodically during high velocity wind only for short distances and that too for smaller heights above the
ground. Their movement takes place close to the surface, generally up to 2m. They may be dropped and
picked up again and again during the transport process from one place to another.
*The height and distance to which the sediments are transported in one cycle depends on the size
and shape of the grains, the density of the material making the grain, the velocity of the wind, and
also the nature of the surface of the ground over which the wind are blowing.
• In the typical saltation process, each particle suffers a fall after reaching a maximum height in one
cycle of loft and drop. On falling, the same particle transmits an impact to another stationary
particle resting on the ground thereby making that particle to be available for transport.
• Saltation is therefore, a process of sediment transport in a series of jumps.
CREEP: On the slopes of heaps of loose material, as in sand dunes, the displacement.

GEOLOGICAL WORK OF WATER

A. Work of Streams and Rivers
➢ 71% of Earths surface is covered with water
➢ WATER- the most important geological agent that modified the surface morphology of the planet on
very grand scale
➢ THREE TYPES OF WATER
• Running Water (streams and rivers)
• Stagnant Water (Season and oceans)
• Subsurface Water (ground water)
GEOLOGICAL AGENTS
❖ Running Water is considered the most potent natural geological agent, shaping landscapes through
erosion, transportation and deposition.
❖ Streamlets and streams are small surface bodies of water flowing in their channels, while multiples
streams converging to form a major channel create rivers.
❖ Rivers and streams collectively form drainage systems, channeling water from precipitation including
rainfall, snowfall, meltwater and spring water, out of a region.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM AND BASINS
Drainage Systems encompass the network of river and streams that collect and channel water out of a
specific region.
A drainage basin refers to the geographical area contributing water to a particular drainage system
It includes all surface and subsurface runoff withing it's boundaries, defining the catchment area for a
river or stream network.
SOURCES OF STREAM WATER
Runoff - occurs when there is more water than land can absorb. The excess liquid flows across the
surface of the land and into nearby creeks, stream or ponds. Impervious Surfaces, or surfaces that can't
absorb water increase run off.
Subsurface Water - is a liquid water found below the ground surface, including the soil water above the
water table and the ground water below water table, but does not include water chemically bound to
minerals or organic matters.
Glacial Melt Water - is the liquid water produced by ablation of glaciers.
▪ Meltwater in glaciers by far the most important product of ablation: it's more important to evaporation
but in glaciers that terminate in the ocean, calving is more important
▪ Usually the meltwater streams in the surface of a glacier plunge down into the body of the glacier
before they reach the terminus; remember that liquid water is denser than ice, so the meltwater tries
to find a way down into the glacier.
▪ Meltwater is classified on the basis of where it is in the glacier, as supraglacial meltwater (on the top
of the glacier), englacial meltwater (inside of the glacier) and subglacial meltwater (beneath the
glacier)
WHERE DOES THE WATER IN RIVERS COME FROM?
o Surface Runoff - brings water to the river when it rains
o 20%
o from rain: Surface Runoff
o from ground water: Base Flow
o from glaciers: Melt Water

RIVER PROFILE
The streams flow in well-defined channels developed and modified by the water itself. In most cases, the
tendency in a river is to flow towards the sea. As such, from the place of origin to its final destination in
the sea, every river channel is characterized with a longitudinal profile. The highland or the
mountainous region wherefrom the river actually originated is called the head region. From this region,
the river flows through gradually decreasing slopes and then through nearly flat lands before it actually
empties into the sea. The place where a river enters a sea is called the mouth.
Thus, in the head region (Zone 1 Headwaters), it flows with roaring speed acquiring lot of energy by
virtue of which it is capable of cutting down even the hardest rocks making its base and sides.
Numerous deep and narrow valley and many magnificent gorges and canyons are the proof of this
type of activity.
In the middle reaches (Zone 2 Transfer Zone), the stream becomes mature. It has already acquired
some load to carry down and its capacity to cut vigorously is virtually gone. It does erode its channel
rocks but only selectively, changing its course where it finds obstructions too hard to remove.
Obviously, this frequent changing of course results in typical meandering, i.e. changing its course
again and again through a small area. It flows in loops. Meanders are, therefore, typical features of a
mature type river regime.
In the flat lands (Zone 3 Depositional Zone), the same river behaves like an old organism sluggish,
fatigued, tired, just able to move ahead to join and disappear in the parent body of all waters, the sea,
in as majestic a manner as possible without noise and in full composure.

SEDIMENT TRANSPORT BY RIVERS

Every river receives an enormous amount of material during its flow from head to mouth. This material
includes the rock and soil particles that the river acquires by its own work of erosion along the channel.
The other part is the load eroded and contributed by its tributaries in the form of variously shaped
particles, sediments and fragments.
The load, as all the material being transported in running water of a stream or river, may thus be distinguished
into three distinct categories.
BED LOAD
➢ Bedload particles travel with water flow by sliding or bouncing along the bottom.
➢ This fraction of the river load comprises the heavier particles of sand, pebbles, gravels, and cobbles
and all the other type of materials, which are moved along the bed of a river in different ways. A
typical method of transport of bed load is described as SALTATION. Approximately 5-20% of total
sediment transport is bedload.
SUSPENDED LOAD
➢ If the water flow is strong enough to pick up sediment particles they will become part of the
suspended load.
➢ While there is often overlap, the suspended load and suspended sediment are not the same thing.
Suspended sediment are any particles found in the water column, whether the water is flowing or not,
on the other hand, suspended load is the amount of sediment carried downstream within the water
column by the water flow. It is made up of fine sand, silt, and clay sediments that are light enough to
be transported in the stream water in a state of suspension.
SUBSET IF SUSPENDED LOAD
❖ WASH LOAD
• Is the portion of sediment that will remain suspended even when there is no water flow.
• The wash load is a subset of the suspended load. This load is comprised of the finest
suspended sediment (typically less than 0.00195mm in diameter).
• The wash load is differentiated from the suspended load because it will not settle to the
bottom of a waterway during a low or no flow period. Instead, these particles remain in
permanent suspension as they are small enough to bounce off water molecules and stay
afloat. However, during flow period, the wash load and suspended load are indistinguishable.
THE DISSOLVED LOAD
➢ The portion of a streams total sediment load that is carried in solution, especially ions from chemical
weathering.
➢ This fraction includes particles of materials soluble in water, which the river may gain due to its
solvent action on the rocks of the channel and some of which may be brought to it by numerous
tributaries entering the stream at different places during its seaward journey. Numerous rivers from
the land part carry calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, and sodium chloride and other soluble salts
from limestone, gypsum, anhydrite, and rock salt down to the sea in measures of thousands of tons
every year. The seas get enriched in salts mainly by the dissolved loaf contributed by rivers.

DEPOSITION BY RIVERS
o The entire load of a stream or river is typically transported unless a change in transport factors occurs. When
a stream's load carrying capacity decreases due to various reasons, a portion or the entire load may need to
be dropped down.
DEPOSITION - the process of dropping down of its load by any moving natural agent; the resulting
accumulation of the load material is termed the deposit made by that particular agent.

Winds, rivers, glaciers, and marine water are important natural agents that make typical deposits on the surface
of the earth called:
Aeolian Deposits
Fluvial Deposits
Glacial Deposits
Marine Deposits

There are three factors that are sufficient to determine the trend of the process of deposition by rivers:
❖ ENERGY - the reduction in energy of river water due to changes in velocity or volume, can lead to the
inevitable deposition of a portion of the load, making it impossible to transport the load due to the
inevitable decrease in energy available.
❖ ENVIRONMENT - Irregular surfaces in channels reduce water velocity, despite no change in gradient or
volume, reflecting the influence of environment on channel configuration and shape.
❖ TIME - it plays a crucial role in determining when a stream would drop a part or whole of its load, as it's
velocity experiences and appreciable check.
PRECIPITATION
• Another process contributing to deposition.
• It is the process involving the precipitation of dissolved load, results in an appreciable change in the
physico-chemical environment surrounding the stream water. When meandering stream water is held up
in detached or semi-detached loops, the concentration of dissolved salts increases over time in the
isolated loop, potentially precipitating as a local deposit.

PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

I. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES - these are intrinsic characteristics of minerals that can be observed,
measured, or described without altering the minerals chemical composition.
II. OPTICAL PROPERTIES - Some other properties like behavior towards light require extremely thin
sections of minerals through which light can pass and best studied with the help of a microscope.
III. CHEMICAL PROPERTIES - Group of properties involving chemical analysis of the minerals to know their
constituents, qualitatively, and quantitatively.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
COLOR
➢ the color of any object is a light dependent property.
➢ It is the appearance of the particular object in light (darkness destroys color). A particular color is
produced by reflection of some and absorption of other components of white light.
On the basis of color, a mineral may belong to any one of the three types:
➢ Idiochromatic - are "self-colored" due to their composition. The Color is a constant and
predictable component of the mineral.
➢ Allochromatic - "other colored" due to trace impurities in their composition or defects in their
structure. In this case, the Color is a variable and unpredictable property of the mineral.
➢ Pseudochromatic - "false colored" due to tricks in light diffraction. In these cases, color is
variable but a unique property of the mineral. Examples are the colors produced by precious opal
and the shiller reflections of labradorite

LUSTER
• it is the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. The word traces it's origins
back to the Latin lux, meaning "light", and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance
• refers to the way a mineral reflects light. Technically speaking, it is the intensity of reflection of light
from the mineral surface and depends at least on three factors:
I. The refractive index of the mineral
II. The absorption capacity of the mineral
III. The nature of reflecting surface

Studying Luster of minerals, one may make us of the following qualitative terms:
❖ Metallic - shine resembles to known metals. ex. galena
❖ Adamantine - luster of diamonds; very brilliant. ex. diamond
❖ Vitereous - shine typical of glass, ice, etc. ex. quartz
❖ Pearly- resembling shine of pearls. ex. labradorite
❖ Silky - like the shine of pure silk. ex. gypsum
❖ Resinous - shine is oily, waxy, or greasy. ex. nepheline
❖ Dull- where shine is almost absent because no light is reflected due to highly porous nature of mineral.
ex. chalk

STREAK
➢ is the color of the finely powdered mineral as obtained by scratching or rubbing the mineral over a
rough unglazed porcelain plate. Colorless and transparent minerals will always give a colorless streak
that has no significance. The colored and opaque minerals, especially of ore groups, give typical
characteristic streak quite different from other similar looking minerals.
 HARDNESS
➢ It is the resistance of a mineral to scratching.
➢ It is the fairly constant and diagnostic property of minerals.
➢ Hardness may be defined as the resistance, which a mineral offers to an external deformation action
such as scratching, abrasion, rubbing, or indentation. Hardness of a mineral depends on its chemical
composition and atomic constitution.
➢ The degree of hardness is determined by observing the comparative ease or difficulty with which one
mineral is scratched by another or by a steel tool.
➢ For measuring the hardness of a mineral, several common objects that can be used for scratching are
helpful, such as a fingernail, a copper coin, a steel pocketknife, glass plate or window glass, the steel
of a needle, and a streak plate (an unglazed black or white porcelain surface).
MOHS HARDNESS SCALE (FREDERIC MOHS)
Talc 1 Knife/Glass 5.5
Gypsum 2 Orthoclase 6
Fingernail 2.5 Steel 6.5
Calcite 3 Quartz 7
Copper Coin 3.5 Topaz 8
Flourite 4 Corundum 9
Apatite 5 Diamond 10

CLEAVAGE
➢ Tendency of a crystallized mineral to break along a certain definite directions yielding more or less
smooth, plane surfaces. In other words, cleavage planes are the planes of easiest fractures, and are
essentially indicative or directions of at least cohesian in the atomic constitution of a mineral.

FRACTURE
➢ The appearance of the broken surface of a mineral in a direction other than that of cleavage.
COMMON TYPES OF FRACTURES ARE:
• Even - when the broken surface is smooth and flat. ex. chert
• Uneven - when the mineral breaks with an irregular surface which is full of minute ridges and
depressions. It is a common fracture of many minerals. ex. flourite
• Conchoidal - the broken surface of the mineral shows broadly concentric rings or concavities
which may be deep or faint in outline. In the latter case, the fracture may be termed as
subconchoidal. ex. quartz
• Splintery - when the mineral breaks with a rough woody fracture resulting in rough projection at
the surface. ex. kyanite
• Hackly - the broken surface is highly irregular with numerous sharp, fine, pinching projections. ex.
native copper
• Earthy - the surface is smooth, soft, and porous. ex.chalk

TENACITY - the behavior of a mineral towards the forces that tend to break, bend, cut ot crush.
1) Sectile - when a mineral can be cut with a knife. It is said to be malleable if the slices cut of it can be
flattened under a hammer.
2) Brittle - when minerals change into fine grains or power when scratched with a knife or brought under
the hammer.
3) Flexible - when minerals can be bent, especially in thin sheets. Chlorites are flexible.
• flexible but elastic, regain their shape when the force applied on them is removed. Micas are
best example. The flexible and elastic fibres of asbestos can be woven into fure-prooc fabric.
4) Plastic and Elastic
In terms of tenacity, a mineral may be sectile, brittle, flexible, plastic and elastic, the last two qualities of being
diagnostic importance.
 STRUCTURE (FORM)
➢ Minerals often occur in characteristic body forms or physical shapes. The physical make up of a
mineral is expressed by the term structure and is often helpful in identifying a particular mineral. In
reality, structure merely shows the habit in which the crystal or crystalline substance making a mineral
tends to occur in nature.
1) Tabular - the mineral occurs in the form of a flattened, square, rectangular or rhombohedral shape. In
other words, flattening is conspicuous compared to lengthwise elongation. Ex. Calcite, Orthoclase,
Barite
2) Elongated - when the mineral is in the form of a thin or thick elongated, column like crystals. Ex.
Beryl, Quartz, Hornblende. It is also commonly referred as columnar structure.
3) Bladed - the mineral appears as if composed of thin, flat, blade-like overlapping or juxtaposed parts.
Ex. Kyanite
4) Lamellar - the mineral is made up of relatively thick, flexible, leaf-like sheets. Ex. Vermiculite
5) Foliated - the structure is similar to lamellar in broader sense but in this case the individual sheets
are paper thin, even thinner and can be easily separated. Ex. Muscovite (Mica)
6) Fibrous - when the mineral is composed of fibres, generally separable, either quite easily (ex.
asbestos) or with some difficulty (ex.gypsum)
7) Radiating - The mineral is made up of needle like or fibrous crystals which appear originating from a
common point thereby giving a radiating appearance. Ex. Iron Pyrites. When needles are pointed and
not necessarily radiating, the structure is called acicular.
8) Granular - the mineral occurs in the form of densely packed mass of crystal. Ex. Chromite
9) Globular - or botryoidal, when the mineral surface is in the form of rounded, bulb like overlapping
globules or projections. Ex. Hermatite
10) Reniform - It is similar to globular but the shape of the bulbs or projections resembles to human
kidney. Ex. Hermatite
11) Mammillary - it is similar to globular but the projections are conspicuous in size, overlapping in
arrangement and rounded in shape. Ex. Malachite

SPECIFIC GRAVITY
➢ the density of a substance is a fundamental property of great significance and is defined as the mass
per unit volume of the substance. For minerals, it is expressed in g/cc
➢ In mineralogy, the term specific gravity is used more frequently than density and signifies "the ratio
between the density of a mineral and that of water at 4° Celsius". Since it is a ratio, it has no units.
Specific gravity of quartz is, for instance, 2.65. The specific gravity is also termed relative density.

Density (hence specific gravity) of minerals depends primarily on:

I. Composition - the non-metallic minerals have low values, ranging between 2.5 to 4.5 g/cc, whereas
metallic minerals and ores have densities as high as 20g/cc
II. Atomic Constitution - minerals with atoms of greater atomic radii show lower density values
compared with those made of atoms of smaller atomic radii.
Since temperature and pressure are known to change a substance volume, density will also show a
change when a mineral is subjected to elevated temperature or high pressures.
Specific gravity of some common minerals is: quartz(2.65); calcite(2.60); flourite(3.18); hematite(5.2);
chalcopyrite(4.2); galena(7.5); native gold(19.3)

FORM
➢ it is the internal atomic arrangement of a mineral which is manifested outwardly by development of
geometrical shapes or crystals characters. One of the following three terms may describe the form of
a mineral
❖ Crystallized - when the mineral occurs in the form of well defined crystals as represented by
crystal faces and angles or when it shows perfect cleavage, which is also indicative of perfect
atomic arrangement.
❖ Crystalline - when well defined crystals are absent but the mineral shows a clear tendency
towards crystallization as evidence by development of small grains each of which is virtually an
incipient crystal.
❖ Amorphous - neither a crystal face nor a cleavage is seen. There is no evidence of orderly
arrangement of atoms.