Abstract

Yardangs are streamlined ridges carved by the action of wind into consolidated yet erodible substrates. The direction of sediment transport is indicated by their elongate shapes and steep sides which redirects most of the sediment transport layer onto adjacent low-lying surfaces, resulting in lower erosion rates on the elevated areas. Despite this simple premise, the rates of erosion and transport as well as the material properties necessary to form yardangs have until now been largely unknown. This study aims to determine how material properties affect yardang dimensions in order to use yardang morphometry to derive the mechanical properties of a surface that has yet to been explored in situ. As a terrestrial analog for planetary yardangs, we use ignimbrite samples and a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derived from drone imagery of the Campo Piedra Pomez, Argentina. For comparison, we examine a martian analog using a DTM generated by the HiRISE instrument team for a section of the Medusae Fossae Formation northeast of Aeolis Dorsa. We use the DTMs along with thin sections, porosity, density, and strength measurements of yardang materials to understand the conditions contributing to yardang morphology. This method reveals microscopic evidence of nuanced differences in terrestrial ignimbrite depositional processes that create strong, lightweight, yardang-forming ignimbrite like that suggested to occur in the Medusae Fossae Formation. On average, the CPP ignimbrite samples have 49.51 ± 0.43 percent porosity, density of 1.26 ± 0.13 g/cm^3, and uniaxial compressive strength of 4.88 ± 2.86 MPa. Using the topographic structure of yardangs in the DTMs, we automatically extract yardang polygons and characterize their length, width, height, and spacing in four directions. We ratio these measurements and find that yardang width over minimum crosswind spacing has a geometric mean near one for 4102 terrestrial yardangs (~0.7) as well as for 1269 martian yardangs (~1.3). The ratio of ~1 for closely spaced yardangs is probably caused by increased windspeeds enhancing erosion in the gaps between yardangs until the gaps achieve the same cross-sectional area as the yardangs. Finally, we use regressions of the material properties and morphometry data to suggest that if formation conditions are the same as in the Campo Piedra Pomez, the Medusae Fossae Formation surface would have 52.04 + 1.41 / - 1.37 percent porosity, density of 1.19 ± 0.02 g/cm^3 and strength of 0.64 + 0.84 / -0.36 MPa. These results indicate that topography, porosity, strength, and density attenuate the formation processes that ultimately determine the morphometric properties of yardangs. This establishes a framework on which to make progress towards a quantitative understanding of yardang morphology and evolution. The ArcGIS toolboxes and Python scripts used to obtain our results are available at https://github.com/dmcdoug/yardangtools.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Geological Sciences

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2022-08-09

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd12957

Keywords

Mars, yardangs, HiRISE, Campo Piedra Pomez, Medusa Fossae Formation

Language

english

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