Salt Polygons and Porous Media Convection

Autor: Jana Lasser, Joanna M. Nield, Marcel Ernst, Volker Karius, Giles F. S. Wiggs, Matthew R. Threadgold, Cédric Beaume, Lucas Goehring
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Physical Review X, Vol 13, Iss 1, p 011025 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2160-3308
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011025
Popis: From fairy circles to patterned ground and columnar joints, natural patterns spontaneously appear in many complex geophysical settings. Here, we investigate the origins of polygonally patterned crusts of salt playa and salt pans. These beautifully regular features, approximately a meter in diameter, are found worldwide and are fundamentally important to the transport of salt and dust in arid regions. We show that they are consistent with the surface expression of buoyancy-driven convection in the porous soil beneath a salt crust. By combining quantitative results from direct field observations, analog experiments, and numerical simulations, we further determine the conditions under which salt polygons should form, as well as how their characteristic size emerges.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals