Mosaic desert pavement influences water infiltration and vegetation distribution on fluvial fan surfaces

Desert pavements are critical for maintaining ecological stability and promoting near-surface hydrological cycle in arid regions. However, few studies have reported the desert pavements on ecological on fluvial fans. Although desert pavement surfaces appear to be barren and flat, we found that the surfaces were featured by mosaic pattern of desert pavement (DP) and bare ground (BG). In this study, we investigated the effects of mosaic DP on water infiltration and vegetation distribution at six sites (i.e. one on the hillside and five in the sectors of fluvial fans) along a southwest belt transect on the fluvial fans in the Northern Linze County, in the middle of Hexi Corridor. The results showed that significant differences of Mosaic DP between hillside and sectors of fans were found in pavement thickness, thickness of vesicular horizon (Av thickness), particle composition and bulk density, rather than soil moisture content (SMC), gravel coverage and surface gravel size. The mosaic DP can inhibit water infiltration by pavement layer, where the sorptivity (S), initial infiltration rate (i) and steady- state infiltration rate (i) and infiltration time (T) averaged 1.30 cm/min-0.5, 5.03 cm/min, 0.23 cm/min, and 12.76 min respectively. If pavement layer was scalped, the S, i and i increased by 0.75 cm/min-0.5, 2.90 cm/min and 0.13 cm/min, respectively, and the T was shortened by 5.34 min. Water infiltration was mainly controlled by the pavement layer thickness (+), Av thickness (-), surface gravel coverage (-), and fine earth (+) and fine gravel (-) of pavement layer. Mosaic DP grew less shrubs than mosaic BG where distributed plenty of herbs. It can be concluded that desert pavements can keep vegetation stability by self-regulating rainfall. This study would deepen our understanding of the eco-hydrological cycle of pavement landscape in arid regions.

Processes of Paleoindian site and desert pavement formation in the Atacama Desert, Chile

A distinct feature of many of the earliest archaeological sites (13,000-11,200 cal yr BP) at the core of the Atacama Desert is that they lie at or just below the surface, often encased in desert pavements. In this study, we compare these sites and undisturbed desert pavements to understand archaeological site formation and pavement development and recovery. Our results indicate these pavements and their soils are poorly developed regardless of their age. We propose that this is because of sustained lack of rain and extreme physical breakdown of clasts by salt expansion. Thus, the core of the Atacama provides an example of the lower limits of rainfall (<50 mm/yr) needed to form desert pavements. At site Quebrada Maní 12 (QM12), humans destroyed the pavement. After abandonment, human-made depressions were filled with eolian sands, incorporating artifacts in shallow deposits. Small and medium-sized artifacts preferentially migrated upwards, perhaps due to earthquakes and the action of salts. These artifacts, which now form palimpsests at the surface, helped – along with older clasts - to restore surface clast cover. Larger archaeological features remained undisturbed on top of a deeper Byzm horizon. The vesicular A horizons (Av horizons) have not regenerated on the archaeological sites due to extreme scarcity of rainfall during the Holocene.

The Upper Campanian – lower Maastrichtian cephalopod fauna of Botellos, Nuevo León: a key to understand faunal turnover across the Campanian–Maastrichtian boundary in NE Mexico

A new cephalopod collection from the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary interval of NE Mexico, consisting of 1076 individuals assigned to 29 species and 22 genera is presented. This collection is a mix of ammonoids, one coleoid and one nautilid, which originate from at least three ammonoid biozones: The upper Campanian Exiteloceras jenneyi and Nostoceras (Nostoceras) hyatti zones, and the lower Maastrichtian Pachydiscus (Pachydiscus) neubergicus Zone. The age of the collection is thus middle late Campanian to late early Maastrichtian, and it closes a stratigraphic gap between faunas described formerly from this region. The specimens are nuclei collected from the desert pavement. The abundance of specimens allows for a comparison to other Campanian-Maastrichtian ammonoid records from Mexico, North America and Europe.

The draa Cerro Medanoso (Atacama, Chile) and its importance in the study of desert

This work presents a morphological analysis of the Cerro Medanoso draa (Atacama Marginal Desert) and the type of contact with the desert pavements of neighboring glacis and piedmont. This study is based on an analysis of aerial photos, and a digital elevation model. Aster GDEM was used as a basis for the survey. Fieldwork observations covered two principal zones: the nucleus and the envelope. Following fieldwork, analysis of satellite imagery was conducted. It was possible to identify the following phases of formation: construction of a stellate nucleus, merging of the eastern envelope, merging of the southern envelope and merging of a complex western envelope. The southeastern facing envelope is much bigger than the northwestern facing one. Consequently, the construction of the complex draa is asymmetric. The correlation of this megadune with similar star and compound draas to other deserts in the world indicates that the closest analogue exists in Namibia, but without merging signals between the envelope and the nucleus. Star draas observed in other deserts exhibit a lack of this envelope. With reference to the neighboring piedmont, the beginning of its deflation must be necessarily correlative to the initial construction of the nuclear twin star draa. The later deflation could be responsible for the pulses, which formed the envelope. Therefore, the neighboring desert pavement and the draa are correlative landforms, which represent a very long time formation, in an important part of the desert history, as evidenced by the cited and referenced research works.