Salt polygons and porous media convection

Lasser, J, Nield, JM, Ernst, M, Karius, V, Wiggs, GFS, Threadgold, MR, Beaume, C and Goehring, L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3858-7295, 2023. Salt polygons and porous media convection. Physical Review X, 13: 011025. ISSN 2160-3308

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Physical Review X
Creators:	Lasser, J., Nield, J.M., Ernst, M., Karius, V., Wiggs, G.F.S., Threadgold, M.R., Beaume, C. and Goehring, L.
Publisher:	American Physical Society
Date:	24 February 2023
Volume:	13
ISSN:	2160-3308
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1103/PhysRevX.13.011025 DOI 1736314 Other
Rights:	Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	27 Feb 2023 12:05
Last Modified:	27 Feb 2023 12:05
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/48420

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