The strong winds of June and July are unidirectional over the Thar and are not impeded by rain. Crescentic, linear, and parabolic dunes are visible in this image of the Thar. Compound parabolic dunes with many arms have been observed by Breed et al . These dunes are particularly sharp northeast of Naya Chor near the center of the Plate. These investigators refer to compound parabolic dunes linked to adjacent dunes or with many arms as rake-shaped clusters.
Parabolic dunes develop in areas where their arms are anchored by vegetation.
Compare the dark vegetated parabolic dunes on the right center of the Plate with the light nonvegetated crescentic dunes in the upper left. Wasson et al . Wasson et al . These secondary dunes are not visible in this scene. As reported in Wasson et al .