NDLI: Biolevitation of pebbles on desert surfaces

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Haff, P. K.
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	Certain desert surfaces called desert pavements are characterized by a nearly stone-free layer of fine granular material, mostly silt (diameter of hundredths of mm) and sand (tenths of mm) capped by a monolayer of pebble-sized (few cm) stones. The fine granular material is deposited as dust from the air, so the stones must be levitated to accommodate emplacement of this material. In so-called “normal grading” of stratigraphic deposits of geologic material, as in many stream deposits, finer grained material tends to settle on top of coarser grains which have faster settling velocities. Anecdotal observations in the field suggested that the observed “reverse grading” of pavement surfaces is a consequence of the activity of small animals that provide through their activities sufficient input of energy to the surface to cause large particles to “float” on the accumulating fine sediment. To test this idea a laboratory experiment with a test organism, the large desert beetle Eleodes, was carried out to observe possible sorting process. Essentially random foraging motions of the beetles in an environment in which fine sediment was periodically added from above led to sorting of stones that were moveable by the organisms, burial of immovable stones, as well as burial and diffusion of marked grains that were comparable in size to the fine sediment. These results help explain the existence of a geologic deposit with an unusual layering of grain sizes.
Starting Page	275
Ending Page	278
Page Count	4
File Format	PDF
ISSN	14345021
Journal	Granular Matter
Volume Number	16
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	14347636
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2013-08-11
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Desert pavement Sedimentation Bioturbation Size sorting Soft and Granular Matter, Complex Fluids and Microfluidics Engineering Fluid Dynamics Materials Science Geoengineering, Foundations, Hydraulics Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Engineering Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Physics and Astronomy Mechanics of Materials Materials Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Heat transport in granular materials during cyclic fluid flow

Yielding of granular materials

Nonlinear granular electrostatics

Dynamical models for granular matter

Size effects in single grain fragmentation

Seismo- and thermodynamics of granular solids

Flows and patterns: The physics of fluids, granular materials, and soft matter

DEM 2007 Editorial

List of conferences related to Granular Matter

Biolevitation of pebbles on desert surfaces

Similar Documents

Heat transport in granular materials during cyclic fluid flow

Yielding of granular materials

Nonlinear granular electrostatics

Dynamical models for granular matter

Size effects in single grain fragmentation

Seismo- and thermodynamics of granular solids

Flows and patterns: The physics of fluids, granular materials, and soft matter

DEM 2007 Editorial

List of conferences related to Granular Matter

Biolevitation of pebbles on desert surfaces