Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1978
Abstract
The color of desert surfaces as seen in Earth orbilal photogruphs Is indicative S se soil composition ww Apollo-Soyus photo- graphs of the Sturt ened Simpson Deserts Australia confirm that sand grtins become redderas the distance from the source inereases. Reddening is caused 1 thìn iron-oxide couting on individual. sand s grains and cạn used, in some cases, to mạp relative-age zones, Photographs of the Western, (Libyan) Desert of Egupt indicate hree distinct and rearly parallel color zones that have been corre- ated in the field with: W1) arable soil composed of quartz,claw, ard caleium carbonate particles; (2) relatively actite saud with or with- out sparse vegetatiun; dark desert-varnished and (3) relatively inactive sand mixed with pebbles. The goungest sunds are the form of longitudinal dunes, which are migrating to the south-southeast along the precailing wind direction. Some ofthe young dune fields eneroaching on the western boundary of the fertile Nile Vallew.
Recommended Citation
El-Baz, Farouk. 1978. "The meaning of desert color in Earth orbital photographs." Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 44, (1) 69–75.