ABSTRACT
Wind erosion occurs mainly in the semiarid and subhumid climates and is one of the most serious hazards which threaten the agriculture of those regions. When the wind blows over a dry sandy field or other erodible soil surface it is found that the wind speed near the ground is reduced and the drag velocity has a different gradient than over a firm, noneroding surface. There is an important distinction between the capacity of a given wind to transport eroded material, and the flux that wind will actually pick up and carry under given field conditions. The erosive capacity of the wind is modified, among other things, by the erodability of the soil. Adsorbed moisture forms in a film around individual soil particles. The cohesion between these films creates a resistance to detachment which the force of the wind must overcome. The most effective cross-sectional shape of the windbreak has a triangular windward surface, rather than an abrupt vertical barrier.
