Definition
An unusually large isolated crescentic transverse dune.
Category
A type of barchan
Description
A large barchan with height >100 m (Glenn 1979) or a barchan or transverse ridge >500 m wide, often isolated from surrounding dunes (Bourke and Balme 2008 and refs therein). They can also be compound dunes consisting of superimposed barchans of different sizes (Thomas 1989, p. 248). Small barchans may develop on top of the megabarchan or downwind from the horns of the megabarchan. Some are frame dunes (Bourke and Balme 2008 and refs therein).
Morphometry
On Mars, the largest known simple megabarchan (~500 m tall, 6.5 km wide) is the Kaiser crater dune. Russell crater also contains a very large (~400 m tall, ~33 km wide, ~ 8 km long) barchanoid ridge (Bourke 2005; Reiss and Jaumann 2003). However, most are less than 1 km wide (Bourke and Balme 2008). Megabarchans on Earth with widths and...
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References
Bourke MC (2005) Alluvial fans on dunes in Kaiser Crater suggest niveo-aeolian and denivation processes on Mars. Lunar Planet Sci Conf XXXVI, abstract #2373, Houston
Bourke MC, Balme M (2008) Megabarchans on Mars. Planetary dunes workshop: a record of climate change, 29 Apr–2 May 2008, Alamogordo. LPI contribution no. 1403, pp 17–18
Bourke MC, Goudie AS (2009) Varieties of barchan form in the Namib Desert and on Mars. Aeolian Res 1:45–54
Bourke MC, Lancaster N, Fenton LK, Parteli EJR, Zimbelman JR, Radebaugh J (2010) Extraterrestrial dunes: an introduction to the special issue on planetary dune systems. Geomorphology 121:1–14
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Glenn M (ed) (1979) Glossary. In: McKee ED (ed) U.S. geological survey professional paper, 1052. University Press of the Pacific Honolulu, Hawaii, pp 399–407
Norris RM (1968) Barchan dunes of imperial valley, California. J Geol 74(3):292–306
Reiss D, Jaumann R (2003) Recent debris flows on Mars: seasonal observations of the Russell crater dune field. Geophys Res Lett 30. doi:10.1029/2002GL016704
Rogers D, Christensen PR (2003) Age relationship of basaltic and andesitic surface compositions on Mars: analysis of high-resolution TES observations of the northern hemisphere. J Geophys Res (Planets) 108(E4):5030. doi:10.1029/2002JE001913
Simons FS (1956) A note on Pur-Pur Dune, Virú Valley, Peru. J Geol 64(5):517–521
Thomas DSG (1989) Aeolian sand deposits. In: Thomas DSG (ed) Arid zone geomorphology. Belhaven Press, London, pp 232–261
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Balme, M. (2014). Megabarchan. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_234-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_234-1
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