On the effect of two-direction seasonal flows on barchans and the origin
of occluded dunes
Abstract
We inquire into the morphodynamics of barchans under seasonal flows. For
that, we carried out grain-scale numerical computations of a subaqueous
barchan exposed to two-directional flows, and we varied the angle and
frequency of oscillations. We show that when the frequency is lower than
the inverse of the characteristic time for barchan formation, the dune
adapts to the new flow direction and recovers the barchan shape while
losing less grains than under one-directional flow. For higher
frequencies, the dune has not enough time for adaptation and becomes
more round while losing more grains. For both cases, we show, for the
first time, the typical dynamics of grains (trajectories and forces). In
particular, the round barchans are similar to the so-called occluded
dunes observed on Mars, where seasons have very high frequencies
compared to the dune timescale, different from Earth. Our results
represent a possible explanation for that shape.