page_title: Wind
section_title: Erosion
hierarchical_section_title: Wind / Role in the natural world / Erosion
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bizarre Felsgebilde (Pilzfelsen; Árbol de Piedra – Baum aus Stein) in der Siloli-Wüste südwestlich von Uyuni nahe der Laguna Colorada, Bolivien. Der Fels befindet sich nicht im Salar de Uyuni. Čeština: Árbol de Piedra (Kamenný strom), skalní útvar nacházející se v poušti Siloli na bolivijském Altiplanu
context_page_description: Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On the surface of the Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the Sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space. Winds are commonly classified by their spatial scale, their speed, the types of forces that cause them, the regions in which they occur, and their effect. The strongest observed winds on a planet in the Solar System occur on Neptune and Saturn. Winds have various aspects: velocity; the density of the gas involved; energy content or wind energy. The wind is also an important means of transportation for seeds and small birds; with time things can travel thousands of miles in the wind.
  In meteorology, winds are often referred to according to their strength, and the direction from which the wind is blowing. Short bursts of high speed wind are termed gusts. Strong winds of intermediate duration are termed squalls. Long-duration winds have various names associated with their average strength, such as breeze, gale, storm, and hurricane.
context_section_description: Erosion can be the result of material movement by the wind. There are two main effects. First, wind causes small particles to be lifted and therefore moved to another region. This is called deflation. Second, these suspended particles may impact on solid objects causing erosion by abrasion (ecological succession). Wind erosion generally occurs in areas with little or no vegetation, often in areas where there is insufficient rainfall to support vegetation. An example is the formation of sand dunes, on a beach or in a desert. Loess is a homogeneous, typically nonstratified, porous, friable, slightly coherent, often calcareous, fine-grained, silty, pale yellow or buff, windblown (Aeolian) sediment. It generally occurs as a widespread blanket deposit that covers areas of hundreds of square kilometers and tens of meters thick. Loess often stands in either steep or vertical faces. Loess tends to develop into highly rich soils. Under appropriate climatic conditions, areas with loess are among the most agriculturally productive in the world. Loess deposits are geologically unstable by nature, and will erode very readily. Therefore, windbreaks (such as big trees and bushes) are often planted by farmers to reduce the wind erosion of loess.
caption: A rock formation in the Altiplano, Bolivia, sculpted by wind erosion
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