Abstract:

To determine the types of surface sediments, the sedimentary environment stability, and the surface wind power, we studied the surface grain size characteristics of the populus euphratica echo dunes, which were common in the Brikum Desert. About 195 surface sediment samples were collected from six sites, and analyzed via grain size-standard deviation, Sahu genetic discrimination, and the related statistical analysis methods. The results show that: (1) Grain size composition of the surface sediment samples is dominantly sand and silt, and the grain size decreases from north to south and from east to west; (2) Average grain sizes are in the range of very fine or fine sand. About 71.79% of the sediment samples were well sorted, and 97.94% of the samples are near-symmetrically distributed, and all the samples have a medium peak state; (3) Particle size-standard deviation curves of the six sampling sites all show a multi-peak distribution, indicative of an unstable deposition environment; (4) Discriminant values of the surface sediments from the six sites range from -7.277 to -5.912, suggestive of aeolian deposition products.

Key words: populus euphratica echo dune, surface sediment, grain size, Brikum Desert