ABSTRACT
Wind is a geomorphic agent in all terrestrial environments. It is a potent agent only in dry areas with fine-grained soils and sediments and little or no vegetation. The extensive sand seas and grooved bedrock in the world’s arid regions attest to the potency of aeolian processes. More local wind action is seen along sandy coasts and over bare fields, and in alluvial plains containing migrating channels, especially in areas marginal to glaciers and ice sheets. In all other environments, wind activity is limited by a protective cover of vegetation and moist soil, which helps to bind soil particles together and prevent their being winnowed out and carried by the wind, and only in spaces between bushes and on such fast-drying surfaces as beaches can the wind free large quantities of sand.
