Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157 167 www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Influence of soil texture on the binding energies of fine mineral dust particles potentially released by wind erosion
Stphane C. Alfaro
LISA, UMR-CNRS 7583, Universit de Paris 12, 61 av. du Gnral de Gaulle, 94010, Crteil, France Received 14 September 2006; received in revised form 20 February 2007; accepted 20 February 2007 Available online 28 February 2007

Abstract Models of the two aeolian processes (saltation and sandblasting) that lead to emission of fine dust particles (PM20) by wind erosion in arid and semi-arid areas have been combined to form the so-called Dust Production Model (DPM). In this model, the size dependent binding energies of PM20 embedded within the wind-erodible loose soil aggregates or in the soil surface itself are key input parameters. Indeed, their values condition at the same time the intensity of emissions and their initial size distribution. Previous comparisons of vertical mass fluxes measured on-field with the model predictions suggest that these energies might be relatively independent of soil texture and also probably composition. Because this would greatly facilitate application of the DPM at regional or global scale, the objective of this work is to check experimentally the veracity of this result. The strategy that has been designed for this has involved selecting four natural soil samples collected in various source areas of the world and covering a wide range of textures and compositions. Then, these soil samples have been used to perform carefully controlled wind erosion simulations in a wind tunnel. During the experiments, which were carried out at different wind speeds with each soil, the horizontal flux (Fh) of saltating soil aggregates has been monitored. At the same time, number concentrations (Ci) of PM20 released by the sandblasting process were recorded in the 6 size classes of an optical size analyzer. Thus, the efficiency of the sandblasting process (defined as the ratio of Ci to Fh) could be determined for each of these size classes. Analysis of the results obtained in similar saltation conditions shows that for the four tested soils, and within the range of contents in clay and other components favoring aggregation (mostly organic matter and carbonates), the influence of soil composition and texture on binding energies of the PM20 particles within soil aggregates is at best a second order effect that can be neglected in large scale modeling of wind erosion by the DPM. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Desert dust; Wind erosion; Sandblasting; Soil composition; Soil texture; Binding energies

1. Introduction On a yearly basis, mineral dust emissions due to wind erosion in arid and semi-arid areas amount to between 1

Tel.: +33 145171678; fax: +33 145171564. E-mail address: alfaro@lisa.univ-paris12.fr. 0169-555X/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.02.012

and 3 billion tons (IPCC, 2001), which represents approximately 30 to 50% of the total aerosol injections into the troposphere (Andreae, 1995). The finest dust particles (those with diameters less than 20 m, or PM20) can remain suspended into the atmosphere for up to more than a week and be transported thousands of kilometres from their sources. The consequences of these dust emissions are numerous: they can 1) lead to

158

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

depletion of soil-nutrients in source areas and thus favor desertification, 2) result in a health hazard for local populations who inhale silicon-rich particles, 3) be responsible for traffic problems due to reduced visibility, and 4) play a role in climate change by interfering with radiative transfer at solar and terrestrial wavelengths. Assessing the magnitude of all these effects that operate at different space- and timescales requires determination of highly variable fields of dust cloud characteristics such as concentration, size distribution, and size-resolved composition. Practically, the only way of accessing these fields is to combine a dust emission model able to provide aerosol characteristics at the source with a model that accounts for the modification of these characteristics during transport. Several models can be used to simulate dust transport, but to the best of our knowledge there is still no dust emission model able to provide at the same time the size-resolved emission fluxes and their sizeresolved composition. To date, several emission models exist but only two are based on physically-explicit parameterizations of the processes leading to dust emission. These models allow computation of initial size-resolved dust flux: the first one was developed by Shao (2001), and the second, also called the Dust Production Model (DPM), was proposed by Alfaro and Gomes (2001). The physics of the DPM (summarized below) shows that the binding energies of fine dust particles within loose soil aggregates are key inputs for the model. Indeed, their values control to a considerable degree the emission intensity and the initial size distribution of the erosion flux. Results obtained during both wind tunnel (Alfaro et al., 1998) and field (Gomes et al., 2003; Alfaro et al., 2004) experiments seem to indicate that these binding energies might be largely independent of the source soil texture. Because it would imply that a unique, universal set of binding energy values could be used as DPM input and thus greatly simplify dust emission modeling at large scale, it is important to confirm the validity of this result. This constitutes the main objective of this work whose structure is as follows Section 2 of the paper presents a summary of the physics of the two processes (saltation and sandblasting) that underlie the DPM. The individual role played by each model input parameter, and especially the fine particle binding energies, is detailed. Section 3 details the methodology and experimental set-up used for testing the influence of soil texture, and to a lesser extent composition, on the soil's susceptibility to wind erosion. Finally, results of experiments performed with quite different natural soils are presented and discussed in Section 4.

2. Aeolian processes and dust emission modeling 2.1. Soil size distributions and the saltation process By sieving in dry conditions the loose wind-erodible fraction (the one corresponding to soil particles with diameters smaller than 1 mm) of 26 arid and semi-arid soils, Chatenet et al. (1996) have shown that this fraction can usually be considered as a mixture of several lognormally distributed soil aggregate populations. The finest of these modes is relatively coarse (geometric mean diameter, or gmd, = 125 m) and narrowly distributed (geometric standard deviation, or gsd, = 1.6). This indicates that the mass of PM20 present in arid soils in a free state is usually insignificant. However, such fine particles do exist in the soil. They are incorporated within the coarse soil aggregates mentioned above. Typically, they can either be glued to the surface of individual sand-sized grains, imbedded into similarly sand-sized aggregates that are mostly formed of fine material, or contained in the soil surface itself. It is important to note that confusion between the dry size distribution of wind-erodible soil aggregates and soil texture must be avoided. Contrary to the dry size distribution of soil aggregates that is seldom measured, soil texture is quite commonly used by soil-scientists. In this soil classification, the most complete possible dispersion of individual soil particles is sought by submitting soil samples to ultrasonic shaking in water. The mass of particles belonging to three particular size classes is then assessed. These three size classes are: clay (d b 2 m), silt (2 b d b 50 m), and sand (d N 50 m). According to the result of this apportionment, the tested soil is distributed within one of the numerous textural sub-categories distinguished in soil science. Although different in origin, there seems to be a link between soil texture and dry aggregate size distribution. Indeed, Chatenet et al. (1996) showed that fine textured soils tend to be richer in the smallest soil aggregates population (the one with gmd = 125 m and gsd = 1.6) than sandy soils. When submitted to wind stress, soil aggregates can be set into motion. Due to their relatively large size, and hence weight, air flow turbulence is unable to raise these aggregates very high above the ground, and they jump inside a boundary layer whose extension is typically less than 1 m in height. In consequence, this aggregate movement, called saltation is essentially horizontal. Following the first observations of Bagnold (1941), the basic knowledge of the saltation process has been derived mainly from wind tunnel simulations performed in ideal conditions. Indeed, experiments were carried

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

159

out with dry samples and at controlled wind speeds over sand beds made of grains having approximately all the same size and deprived of non-erodible elements. Various expressions accounting for the dependence of the horizontal saltation flux to the wind friction velocity were proposed (see Greeley and Iversen, 1985, for a review). All these expressions involve a parameter of crucial importance for saltation, the threshold friction velocity (ut) under which wind stress is too low to counterbalance weight and inter-particle forces, and hence to move the soil aggregates. Well above this threshold the horizontal flux becomes proportional to the cube of u. In the case of loose, fully erodible grain beds such as those used in wind tunnel simulations, ut depends only on particle size (D) and density (). In more realistic conditions, ut also depends on the degree of protection brought to the soil by non-erodible elements (pebbles, boulders, vegetation, etc.). Usually, the average effect of these non-erodible elements is to increase ut for each soil aggregate size class and, at the same time, the soil roughness length (Z0). Alfaro and Gomes (1995) and Marticorena and Bergametti (1995) have shown that Z0 can be used as a proxy to model the influence of non-erodible elements on ut. Two other factors must be taken into account in natural conditions: soil surface humidity and soil surface crusting. Soil surface humidity can enhance the strength of interparticle bonds by promoting development of a humid film between grains (Fcan et al., 1999). In the case of fine textured soils, soil crusting following rainfall can sometimes limit saltation. Indeed, the strong crusts that form on clayey or loamy soils tend to trap soil aggregates and thus limit their availability for saltation (e.g. Gillette et al., 1982; Sterk et al., 1999; Gomes et al., 2003, Goossens, 2004). Conversely, the type of physical crust that develops on soils characterized by a very low content in fine particles (sandy soils) does not seem to be able to affect saltation (Rajot et al., 2003). 2.2. The sandblasting process and its intrinsic efficiency When aggregates are saltating they hit the ground at the downwind end of their trajectories. Due to the shock inelasticity, a fraction of their terminal kinetic energy is transformed into heat or used to eject other aggregates from the soil (splashing) but the rest is used to release PM20 from the aggregates themselves or from the soil surface on which they impact (sandblasting). There is much experimental evidence (e.g., Gillette, 1977; Shao et al., 1993; Houser and Nickling, 2001) that direct mobilization by aerodynamic forces generally plays a

minimal role in PM20 emissions, or, in other words, that fine dust emissions generally do not occur in the absence of saltation. Thus, from a formal point of view, it is natural to think of studying separately saltation on the one hand and its direct consequence, namely PM20 release by sandblasting, on the other. This idea was first developed by Gillette (1977) who wanted to compare the ability of various natural soils in the southwestern part of the USA to release fine particles. For this, he defined a parameter, , as the ratio of the measured PM20 vertical flux to the measured horizontal saltation flux (Fh). This parameter presents the advantage of normalizing fine particle emissions to the horizontal flux and is expected to be a good representation of a soil's intrinsic aptitude for sandblasting. The idea of uncoupling saltation and sandblasting has also been used to study sandblasting experimentally. Indeed, wind tunnel simulations of wind erosion have been performed with clay targets bombarded with clean sand-sized quartz grains used as abraders to study the sandblasting mechanism (Alfaro et al., 1997). Then, experiments more representative of what happens in the field have been carried out in the same wind tunnel with different natural soils collected in source areas. Results obtained showed that the PM20 that are ejected from soil aggregates by sandblasting can be considered as a mixture, in various proportions, of three log-normally distributed PM20 populations (Alfaro et al., 1998). In a first approximation, the size characteristics of these populations can be considered as independent of the soil texture and mineral composition. Moreover, the experiments also showed that the largest population of PM20 particles could always be released, even at low wind speeds, whereas it took increasingly larger energies to produce the second finest and finest types of particles. This was interpreted by considering that the binding energy (ei) of the fine particle populations within the soil aggregates was a decreasing function of their size (Alfaro et al., 1997, 1998). 2.3. The Dust Production Model (DPM) A physically-explicit saltation model was first developed by Marticorena and Bergametti (1995). This model, hereinafter referred to as MB95, allows computation of the size-resolved saltation mass flux from the following input parameters: soil roughness length, dry size distribution of the loose soil fraction (wind-erodible aggregates), soil humidity, and wind friction speed. In a second step, a sandblasting model based on a scheme describing the partition of the soil aggregates'

160

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

kinetic energies between the binding energies of the three PM20 populations liable to be released by sandblasting was proposed (Alfaro et al., 1997). A set of the ei values, which are necessary for the computations, was derived from the sandblasting experiments. As already mentioned in the introduction of this paper, these values that did not seem to depend significantly on the characteristics of the tested soils were provisionally considered as fixed. Finally, the Dust Production Model (DPM) was obtained (Alfaro and Gomes, 2001) by combining the saltation and the sandblasting models. In the DPM, the energy partition scheme mentioned above is applied individually to each size class of the saltation flux. Thus, the number of PM20 particles released by the impacts is computed for each fine dust mode. Integration of the results over the full size range of saltating aggregates yields the vertical number, and mass, flux (Fv) of PM20 and its size distribution. Since the saltation part of the model computes the horizontal saltation flux, the DPM also provides the ratio of Fv to F h, i.e. the mass sandblasting efficiency (). It has to be noted that, apart from the size characteristics of the three PM20 populations that are also considered as fixed, the input data required to run the DPM are the fine particle binding energies (ei) plus the inputs necessary to run the saltation model: namely, the wind friction velocity (u), the parameters of the dry size distribution of the loose erodible soil aggregates (amplitudes, gmd, and gsd of the various populations), soil roughness length (Z0), soil aggregate mass density () and soil humidity. 2.4. Modeling dust emissions at large scale Using the DPM at local scale is relatively straightforward because, however costly, wind strength, soil roughness length, soil aggregate size distribution, and humidity can be measured directly in the field. Saltation and PM20 fluxes can also be measured at the same time, and one of the main interests of this type of measurements is that the data can be used to validate the DPM at small scale (Gomes et al., 2003; Rajot et al., 2003). However, the main purpose of the DPM is to simulate dust emissions at larger (e.g. regional) scale. The difficulty in this jump from local to large scale is that it then becomes necessary to integrate at the scale of the new grid the space and time variability of all the small scale DPM input parameters. Wind strength and soil humidity can be predicted by meteorological models. Z0 can be mapped by using space-borne observations in arid areas (Marticorena et al., 2004), or by using models describing vegetation growth and agricultural practices

in semi-arid areas. For dry aggregate size distribution, maps describing soil composition and texture can be used to distribute the potential source areas within one of the 9 soil types described by Chatenet et al. (1996). Regarding the binding energies of PM20 populations within soil aggregates, let us repeat that confirming previous results suggesting that they might be independent of soil composition and texture would simply allow the use of a unique set of ei values for all potential sources when computing dust emissions at large scale. The experimental strategy and set-up designed to test this assumption are described in the next section. 3. Experimental strategy The strategy consists in 1) selecting several test soils differing greatly in texture and composition, among the ones available at the laboratory, and 2) performing with these soils wind erosion simulations in a wind tunnel in order to compare their susceptibility to sandblasting. 3.1. Selection of soils The first practical criterion for selecting the soil samples was that they should be available in large quantities. Indeed, a minimal mass of 50 kg is necessary to carry out the wind tunnel experiments. The second criterion was that the composition and texture of each individual soil should be quite different from those of the other selected soils. It is also recommended that, if possible, selected soils should originate from different areas typical of the world's main dust sources. With all these criteria in mind, we finally selected four soils for the wind tunnel experiments (Table 1): a coarse sand from Niger (Nig), a clayey loam (Sp) collected in the province of Aragon (north east Spain), a

Table 1 Wet size distributions obtained after maximal dispersion (texture), and contents of components favoring aggregation at macro-scale (OM stands for organic matter) for the four soils used in the experiments Soil Soil texture (%) Clay + fine loam Coarse loam + fine sand Coarse sand Soil composition (g/kg) Clay OM Iron oxides Carbonates Nig 2.7 24 73.3 Sp 81.5 18.1 0.4 Tun 6.0 92.9 1.1 Ch 5.7 72.7 21.6

19.0 1.7 2.8 1

410.0 21.1 0.5 331

59.0 3.9 3.3 45

45.0 0.5 3.5 23

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

161

loamy fine sand from Tunisia (Tun), and a Chinese soil (Ch) collected in the Gobi desert. The first three of these soils cover a wide range of textures, whereas Ch that is really poor in fine material (clay and fine loam) has a texture in-between those of Tun and Sp. Apart from the content in clay, which has a recognized influence on soil proneness to crusting, there are other soil components that are known to favor macro-scale aggregation: organic matter (OM), iron oxides, and carbonates. Results of analyses performed on the four soils (Table 1) show some important differences between them: the content of clay, OM, and carbonates in Sp is at least 5 times larger than that of the other soils, but its content in iron oxides is much lower. Apart from the already mentioned textural differences between Tun, Nig and Ch that are reflected by the differences in clay content, it can be noted that these three soils also greatly differ in OM and carbonate, though not in iron oxide, contents. The dry particle distribution of the wind-erodible soil aggregates, which was determined by dry sieving, is also different for the four soils (Table 2). The Tunisian soil is made of a single very fine soil aggregate population centered around 100 m that is easy to entrain into saltation. The wind-erodible fraction of the Chinese soil is a mixture of a relatively fine population (gmd = 132 m) and another one that is particularly coarse (gmd = 668 m). The Spanish soil is also a combination of two modes, but the smallest one is significantly coarser than in the two previous cases. Finally, the Niger soil is the most complicated in the sense that it contains three soil aggregate populations, all of them relatively coarse. 3.2. Wind erosion simulations The wind tunnel used for the experiments has already been described in Alfaro et al. (1997, 1998). A bed of soil aggregates 3 m in length, 20 cm wide, and 2 cm

Table 2 Dry size distributions of the soil aggregates constituting the winderodible fraction of the four soils used in the experiments Soil Mode 1 % Tunisia China Niger Spain 100 80 50 68 gmd 98 132 159 229 1.3 1.6 1.9 2.3 Mode 2 % 20 35 32 gmd 668 332 556 1.5 1.3 1.2 Mode 3 % 15 gmd 506 1.1

These size distributions have been determined by sieving the soil samples in dry conditions.

thick is submitted to the stress exerted by an air flow of adjustable speed. As shown in Fig. 1, wind velocity is measured with a Pitot tube at mid-height (10 cm) of the wind tunnel cross-section and at the downwind end of the soil layer. This velocity (U) is used as a reference for comparing experiments performed in different conditions with the same soil. For each wind speed above saltation threshold, the horizontal flux intensity (Fh) is monitored by weighing at regular time intervals the mass of saltating grains collected by an active sand trap whose rectangular opening is perpendicular to the main flow (Alfaro et al., 1997). Another active sampler is used to collect isokinetically the PM20 released by sandblasting and quantify their production for the various soils and wind conditions. Because this active sampler not only collects PM20 but also saltating soil aggregates that could damage instruments, these coarse grains must be eliminated. For this purpose, all collected particles are injected at the base of a large vertical cylinder into which the air flow is laminar and slowly ascending. The diameter of this cylinder has been calculated so that the speed of this upward air flow within it corresponds to the settling velocity in calm air of spherical particles having the same density as mineral particles (2.5 g/cm3) and a diameter of 30 m. As a result, coarse saltating aggregates are unable to follow the air stream, settle at the bottom of the cylinder and are thus removed from the flow. Only the finest particles produced by sandblasting are finally able to reach a second vertical cylinder into which up to 8 different instruments can be connected at the same time to determine in parallel several kinds of aerosol characteristics (size distribution, chemical composition, optical properties, etc.) when necessary. In the experiments described in this paper, one of these instruments was an Optical Size Analyzer (OSA, Met-One, model 237B). This instrument monitored at a typical time step of 6 s the number of particles counted in 6 size classes (0.30.5, 0.50.7, 0.71, 12, 25, N 5 m). Concentrations (Ci) of particles in each of the 6 size classes can be easily deduced from these measurements and the instrument flow-rate (2.8 l/min). Because saltation is a prerequisite to sandblasting, the Ci values not only reflect the efficiency of the sandblasting process for each fine particle size class, but they are also directly proportional to Fh. Thus, in order to study the influence of soil characteristics on the binding energies that are involved in the sandblasting process alone and not in the saltation one, it is necessary to normalize PM20 production (or Ci) to the saltation flux by using the Fh measurements detailed above. In this manner, the Ci/Fh ratio defines a number sandblasting efficiency for

162

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

Fig. 1. Scheme of the wind tunnel and its instruments. A sand trap (ST) whose purpose is to measure the saltation flux, an Isokinetic Particle Collector (IPC), and a wind speed monitor (U) are located at the downwind end of the 3 m long sand bed.

each size class of the OSA that is quite similar to the mass sandblasting efficiency defined by Gillette (see above). 4. Results and discussion The first part of this section describes the typical behavior of one soil (the Niger one) vis-a-vis saltation and subsequent emission of fine particles. The second part is dedicated to the comparison of results obtained with the four tested soils. 4.1. Results obtained at different wind speeds with the Niger soil During the measurements performed with the Niger soil, saltation could only be detected for U values larger than 6.8 m/s. Four experiments were carried out at different wind speeds above this saltation threshold, namely: 7.1, 7.5, 8.3, and 9.9 m/s. At the beginning of each of these experiments U was set just below saltation threshold and maintained at this value for a few minutes in order to measure the background level of ambient aerosol concentrations in each size class of the OSA. After this first period, U was rapidly raised to a predetermined value above threshold after which the experiment began. Typically, the last phase lasted about 5 min during which Fh and Ci were monitored at regular time steps of 3 and 18 s, respectively. 4.1.1. Results obtained at the largest wind speed Fig. 2a shows that at U = 9.9 m/s saltation almost immediately reached an equilibrium state during which Fh remained approximately constant (ca. 0.08 kg/m/s) in spite of a slow decrease due to the limited stock of soil aggregates available for saltation in the wind tunnel experiment. In the meantime, concentrations

measured by the OSA (Fig. 2b) also increased well above the background levels recorded during the first 100 s corresponding to the preliminary phase of the experiment. Once corrected for the background concentrations, the aerosol size distribution obtained with the OSA (Fig. 2c) shows that particles of all sizes falling within the instrument measurement range (from 0.3 to larger than 5 m) were released by sandblasting at U = 9.9 m/s. In spite of the slight variations with time of Fh and Ci, the sandblasting efficiencies defined above as the Ci/Fh ratio for each size class of the OSA remained fairly constant (Fig. 2d) during the active phase of the experiment. 4.1.2. Results obtained just above saltation threshold Results obtained at the lowest tested wind speed (U = 7.1 m/s) are substantially different. At this speed, saltation occurred but only briefly after the sharp initial increase in wind speed (Fig. 3). Indeed, visual observation of the soil surface showed that the largest soil aggregates that could not be moved by wind at this low speed tended to protrude at the surface. As a result, the surface physical roughness increased and so did the saltation threshold that eventually became larger than the actual wind friction velocity. At this time, saltation stopped. During the short duration of saltation, the horizontal flux varied between 0 and a maximum value that remained particularly low (ca. 0.004 kg/m/s) at this small wind speed. While saltation lasted, particles belonging to the 25 m size class of the OSA were released by sandblasting and detected by the instrument (Fig. 3), but this was not the case of finer particles. Comparing the size distributions of aerosols produced at the four wind speeds (Fig. 2c) confirms that the finest particles are only progressively released by sandblasting when

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

163

Fig. 2. a) Typical evolution with time of the horizontal (saltation) flux measured at high wind speed (U = 9.9 m/s) in the wind tunnel. The presented case corresponds to the Niger soil (see text for details). b) Niger soil experiment (U = 9.9 m/s): Typical evolution with time of the concentrations of fine particles measured by the optical size analyzer. Open squares correspond to the 0.30.5 m size class and full circles to the 2.05.0 m one. c) Comparison of the size distributions of the mineral dust generated with the Niger soil at four increasing wind speeds: 7.1 (black bar), 7.5 (vertical stripes), 8.3 (horizontal stripes), and 9.9 m/s (white bars). d) Number sandblasting efficiencies (defined as the Ci/Fh ratios and expressed in s m 2 kg 1) obtained for the 0.30.5 m (open squares) and 2.05.0 m (full circles) size classes (same experimental conditions as in a and b).

wind speed increases, which is in good agreement with previous observations (Alfaro et al., 1997, 1998) showing that the finer the PM20 particles are, the larger their binding energies within the soil aggregates. Fig. 4 shows the dependence of Ci/Fh to saltation intensity (Fh) for one of the coarsest and one of the finest OSA size classes (2.05.0 and 0.50.7 m). Examination of the plot corresponding to 2.05.0 m size class (Fig. 4a) reveals that these particles are detected by the OSA as soon as saltation occurs, but that

Fig. 3. Saltation flux (Fh, solid line) and 2.05.0 m particle concentration (open squares) measured at a wind speed (U = 7.1 m/s) slightly above initial saltation threshold (Ut = 6.8 m/s). This experiment was performed with the Niger soil.

sandblasting efficiency for this size class is rather small at the lowest wind speed (7.1 m/s) above saltation threshold. It then increases with wind speed to reach a maximum around Fh = 0.01 kg/m/s, and finally tends towards a constant limit at the largest wind speeds. For the fine 0.50.7 m size range (Fig. 4b), the existence of a sandblasting threshold is apparent. No such particles are produced at wind speeds less than or equal to 7.5 m/s and the sandblasting efficiency is nil (but arbitrarily fixed at 107 to make it appear on the log plot) until Fh reaches a threshold of about 0.01 kg/m/s. It is only at U = 8.2 m/s or above that the fine particles are detected by the OSA. The explanation for these behaviors has been fully detailed in previous works (e.g., Alfaro and Gomes, 2001). Basically, very close to saltation threshold saltating aggregates are just energetic enough to release the coarsest PM20 particles but not the finest ones whose binding energy is too large. Thus, the sandblasting efficiency is nil for the smaller size classes. As wind speed increases above threshold, so does the kinetic energy (ec) of saltating aggregates, and a time comes when ec equals for the first time the binding energy of the next finest PM20 population. At this moment, a competition is initiated between production of this new type of particles and production of the coarse ones that were previously the only ones to be ejected. This tends

164

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

Fig. 4. Number sandblasting efficiencies (in s kg 1 m 2) for the 2.0 5.0 m (a) and 0.50.7 m (b) size classes in the case of the Niger soil. The increase in saltation flux (Fh) mainly results from an increase in wind speed.

4.9 m/s) because the unique soil aggregate population is made of much finer than the one contained in the other three soils (Table 2). As a result of their small mass and of the low wind speed, the kinetic energy of these aggregates is smaller just above saltation threshold than in the others cases. At U = 4.9 m/s, this kinetic energy (ec) has not yet reached the binding energy of the 0.50.7 m particles that, as a matter of consequence, are not detected by the OSA (Fig. 5a). At the same wind speed, particles in the 2.05.0 m size class are ejected but the very sharp increase in sandblasting efficiency observed for these particles (Fig. 5b) probably indicates that ec has just become large enough to begin producing these easiest-to-release PM20 particles. Table 3 presents a summary of the average sandblasting efficiencies obtained at each wind speed with the various soils. In order to provide an estimation of the scatter of the experimental results for each measurement condition, the ratio, expressed in %, of the standard deviation to the average is also reported. This value is particularly large at the lowest wind speeds for two reasons. First, as predicted by the theory (Alfaro and Gomes, 2001) and confirmed by the observations especially in the case of the Tunisian soil, the sandblasting efficiency varies very rapidly above saltation threshold and only stabilizes at the largest kinetic energy, or speed, values. The second

to reduce Ci/Fh for the coarse size class and increase it for the fine one. For all sizes, Ci/Fh finally tends to stabilize when ec becomes much larger than the binding energy of the smallest PM20 population. Our experimental results show that, on average, a saltation flux of 0.1 kg/m/s that can be almost obtained at a wind speed of 9.9 m/s in the wind tunnel would lead to a measured concentration of 7.0 (1.0) 108 particles/m3 in the 2.0 5.0 m size class, but only 1.5 ( 0.2) 108 particles/m3 in the 0.50.7 m range. 4.2. Comparing results obtained with the different soils Results obtained with the other three soils can be compared to those obtained with the Niger one. On the whole, the evolution of sandblasting efficiency with wind speed follows the general pattern described for the Niger case. However, some differences between soils exist regarding saltation and sandblasting thresholds. These differences themselves can be linked to differences in size of the finest soil aggregate population available for saltation. For instance, the saltation threshold of the Tunisian soil is particularly low (below

Fig. 5. Sandblasting efficiencies (in s kg 1 m 2) obtained at different wind speeds with the Tunisian soil, and in the 0.50.7 m (a) and 2.05.0 m (b) size classes.

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167 Table 3 Sandblasting efficiencies (Ci/Fh, in s m 2 kg 1) measured in various wind conditions with the four tested soils Size class U (m/s) 4.9 6.7 7.1 7.5 7.8 8.2 8.5 8.8 9.9 10.0 1.43E+09 (42) 1.55E+09 (15) 2.28E+09 (23) 1.36E+09 (41) 11.9E+09 (42) 7.01E+09 (13) 3.05E+09 (92) 1.56E+09 (49) 5.13E+09 (101) 4.38E+09 (49) 0.00E+00 () 0.00E+00 () 3.47E+09 (90) 8.52E+09 (46) 0.50.7 m Tunisia 0.00E+00 () 2.90E+09 (113) 3.51E+09 (65) 11.3E+09 (66) Niger China Spain 2.05.0 m Tunisia 15.6E+09 (150) Niger China Spain

165

21.5E+09 (109)

69.9E+09 (82)

32.9E+09 (24)

Only results for the 0.50.7 and 2.05.0 m size classes are presented here. Parenthetical values represent the precision of the measurements defined as the ratio (in %) of the standard deviation to the average. Values with uncertainty less than 50% were retained for soil comparison (see text for details).

reason explaining the variability at low wind speeds is that the relative experimental uncertainties increase when Fh and Ci tend to become small, which is the case close to threshold. A closer examination of the experimental results obtained with all tested soils (Table 3) reveals that the uncertainty on the mean sandblasting efficiency becomes smaller than 50% for all soils at the largest wind speed, and this applies for the 0.50.7 m as well as for the 2.05.0 m size classes. In order to minimize the blurring effect observed at the lowest wind speeds and due to both experimental uncertainties and dependence of sandblasting efficiency to wind speed, we will compare only results obtained at wind speeds larger than 8.2 m/s and with less than 50% uncertainty. Another practical reason for limiting our comparison to results obtained in this speed range is that it is only above 8.2 m/s that emission of fine particles in the 0.30.5 m size class is certain to occur for all soils (see Table 3). Finally, for each of the 0.30.5 and 2.05.0 m size classes there are 5 series of measurements meeting our uncertainty criterion: 2 for the Niger soil and 1 for each of the Spanish, Tunisian and Chinese ones. In order to better visualize the influence of clay content in the soil on the sandblasting efficiencies we have plotted the Ci/Fh values for the two size classes

against this parameter for the four soils (Fig. 6). When experimental uncertainties are taken into account no significant difference in sandblasting efficiency can be observed between the soils from Niger, China, and Tunisia in either of the two size classes. This shows that for the three soils with lowest clay content (less than 60 g/kg), the binding energies of the very fine particles within soil aggregates are independent of this parameter and probably more generally of soil texture.

Fig. 6. Sandblasting efficiencies (in s kg 1 m 2) obtained at large wind speeds for the four tested soils and for two particles size classes (0.5 0.7 and 2.05.0 m). The clay content of the wind-erodible soil aggregates does not seem to have any significant effect on them unless it becomes extremely large as in the case for the Spanish agricultural soil (Sp).

166

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167

From this point of view, the Spanish soil is significantly different from the others. Indeed, when normalized to the saltation flux and in comparable wind speed conditions the amount of 2.05.0 and 0.50.7 m particles released by this soil is two to three times larger than that released by the other three soils. This result indicating that the soil having by very far the greatest content in elements favoring aggregation (not only clay, but also organic matter and carbonates) is also the most prone to eject fine particles by sandblasting might seem surprising. The explanation for this apparent contradiction probably lies in the fact that, as noted above, the finest soil aggregate population in the Spanish soil is substantially coarser (see Table 2) than the finest aggregate populations present in the other three soils. In consequence, at similar wind speeds the kinetic energy of saltating aggregates is larger in the Spanish case. Each impact being then able to release more PM20 particles could explain why sandblasting is also more efficient in this case. 5. Conclusion The experimental simulations of saltation and sandblasting performed with four natural soil samples in a laboratory wind tunnel show that a relatively important uncertainty is associated with the determination of sandblasting efficiency. Possibly because of this uncertainty, no significant difference in sandblasting efficiency could be distinguished between the first 3 soils (Tunisia, Niger, and China), and this in spite of significant differences in their contents of elements favoring aggregation (especially clay and organic matter). With the fourth soil (Spain) whose proportion of clay (410 g/kg) and organic matter (21 g/kg) was about one order of magnitude larger than in the other three soils, the sandblasting efficiency was enhanced by a factor 2 to 3. This result seems rather surprising because one would expect that a larger content in clay and organic matter would a priori increase interparticulate binding energies within soil aggregates. The explanation we propose for this apparent contradiction is that the finest wind-erodible soil aggregates found in the Spanish soil were significantly coarser than those in the other three soils and that, in consequence, their impacts during saltation were more energetic. In summary, our results indicate that the influence of clay content, which is related to soil texture, and certain compositional characteristics (organic matter and carbonates) may have on PM20 binding energies within wind-erodible soil aggregates is at best a second order effect that can hardly be detected even in carefully

controlled wind tunnel experiments. It is dubious that such an effect could be observed in natural conditions where 1) measurements are more difficult to perform than in the laboratory, and 2) temporal stability in the factors ruling dust emission is smaller than in the wind tunnel. This is especially true of wind speed in the turbulent surface layer. The ensuing variability in dust emission characteristics could explain, at least in part, the large scatter of flux measurements performed on the field. This blurring effect and the findings of the present work, that PM20s' binding energies seem to be in large part independent of soil textural and compositional characteristics, could explain previous results showing that the DPM is able to reproduce dust emissions fluxes measured at field scale on a large variety of soils with a unique set of binding energies (Alfaro et al., 2004). Thus, although testing of a larger variety of soil samples than in the present study would be necessary to unequivocally support this conclusion the results of this study confirm that in large scale modeling, binding energies is not a DPM input parameter that has to be resolved in space and time. However, it is important to note that if soil texture and composition have no effect on binding energies, it does not mean that they do not have an indirect effect on a soil's overall susceptibility to wind erosion. Indeed, in combination with other factors (e.g. humidity), soil texture and aggregation factors control important surface features such as crusting, soil aggregates' size distribution, formation of non-erodible clods, surface humidity, etc., that determine the intensity of saltation. Through their impact on the size distribution of winderodible soil aggregates, they also influence the sandblasting efficiency itself indirectly, as has been demonstrated in our experiments performed with the Spanish soil. Acknowledgments This work was funded by the French Programme National de Chimie Atmosphrique and the ADEME in the framework of the project Espces courtes dures de vie: interactions avec le climat. The author also wishes to thank Rosa L Thanh and Michel Maill for their precious help in carrying out the wind tunnel experiments. References
Alfaro, S.C., Gomes, L., 1995. Improving the large-scale modeling of the saltation flux of soil particles in presence of nonerodible elements. J. Geophys. Res. 100 (D8), 16,35716,366.

S.C. Alfaro / Geomorphology 93 (2008) 157167 Alfaro, S.C., Gomes, L., 2001. Modeling mineral aerosol production by wind erosion: emission intensities and aerosol distributions in source areas. J. Geophys. Res. 106 (D16), 18,07518,084. Alfaro, S.C., Gaudichet, A., Gomes, L., Maill, M., 1997. Modeling the size distribution of a soil aerosol produced by sandblasting. J. Geophys. Res. 102 (D10), 11,23911,249. Alfaro, S.C., Gaudichet, A., Gomes, L., Maill, M., 1998. Mineral aerosol production by wind erosion: aerosol particle sizes and binding energies. Geophys. Res. Lett. 25 (7), 991994. Alfaro, S.C., Rajot, J.L., Nickling, W., 2004. Estimation of PM20 emissions by wind erosion: main sources of uncertainties. Geomorphology 59, 6374. Andreae, M.O., 1995. Climate effects of changing atmospheric aerosol levels. In: Henderson-Sellers, A. (Ed.), World Survey of Climatology, Vol XX, Future Climate of the World. Bagnold, R.A., 1941. The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes. Methuen, London. 265 pp. Chatenet, B., Marticorena, B., Gomes, L., Bergametti, G., 1996. Assessing the actual grain-size distributions of desert soils erodible by wind. Sedimentology 43, 901911. Fcan, F., Marticorena, B., Bergametti, G., 1999. Parameterization of the increase of the aeolian threshold wind friction velocity due to soil moisture for arid and semi-arid areas. Ann. Geophys. 17, 149157. Gillette, D.A., 1977. Fine particulate emissions due to wind erosion. Trans. Am. Soc. Agric. Eng. 20, N5, 890897. Gillette, D.A., Adams, J., Muhs, D., Kihl, R., 1982. Threshold friction velocities and rupture moduli for crusted desert soils for the input of soil particles into the air. J. Geophys. Res. 87, 90039015. Gomes, L., Rajot, J.L., Alfaro, S.C., Gaudichet, A., 2003. Validation of a dust production model from measurements performed in Spain and Niger. Catena 52 (34), 257271.

167

Goossens, D., 2004. Effect of soil crusting on the emission and transport of wind-eroded sediment: field measurements on loamy sandy soil. Geomorphology 58 (14), 145160. doi:10.1016/S0169-555X(03) 00229-0. Greeley, R., Iversen, J., 1985. Wind as a Geological Process on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan. Cambridge Planetary Sciences SeriesCambridge University Press. 333 pp. Houser, C.A., Nickling, W.G., 2001. The emission and vertical flux of particulate matter b 10 m from a disturbed clay-crusted surface. Sedimentology 48, 255267. IPCC Third Assessment Report Climate Change, 2001. In: Houghton, J.T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D.J., Noguer, M., van der Linden, P.J., Xiaosu, D. (Eds.), The Scientific Basis. Cambridge University Press, UK, p. 944. Marticorena, B., Bergametti, G., 1995. Modeling the atmospheric dust cycle. J. Geophys. Res. 100, 1641516430. Marticorena, B., Chazette, P., Bergametti, G., Dulac, F., Legrand, M., 2004. Mapping the aerodynamic roughness length of desert surfaces from the POLDER/ADEOS bi-directional reflectance product. Int. J. Remote Sens. 25 (3), 603626. Rajot, J.L., Alfaro, S.C., Gomes, L., Gaudichet, A., 2003. Influence of sandy soil crusting on horizontal and vertical wind erosion fluxes. Catena 53 (1), 116. Shao, Y., 2001. A model for mineral dust emission. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 20,23920,254. Shao, Y., Raupach, M.R., Findlater, P.A., 1993. Effect of saltation bombardment on the entrainment of dust by wind. J. Geophys. Res. 98, 12,71912,726. Sterk, G., Lpez, M.V., Arrue, J.L., 1999. Saltation transport on a silt loam soil in northeast Spain. Land Degrad. Dev. 70, 545554.