ABSTRACT
Thresholds, rates, and directions of aeolian sediment transport are documented for tank maneuver areas on the Fort Bliss Military Reservation in South Central New Mexico. This portion of the Tularosa Basin is dominated by rounded and elongated coppice dunes fixed by mesquite (Prosopsis glandulosa) with small, isolated grassland (Bouteloua eriopoda) flats. The threshold wind velocity for sand transport, Vt, is a function of antecedent precipitation. Values of Vt at the standard 1 m height range from 3.7-7.2 ms-1. Sand transport is best modeled as a third-order polynomial function of V-Vt, with annual rates of transport up to 423 000 gm-1. The effects of tank maneuvers on Vt are minor and short-lived. However, impacts to dune microtopography are more persistent due to preservation of impacts by a surface crust of fines and soluble salts. No sand transport was observed in grassland flats where an algal crust is present.
