Yardang Landform

The Yadan landform was formed on the lacustrine plain in arid areas. The cohesive soil layer deposited at the bottom of a dry lake is cracked due to drying shrinkage, and the directional wind blows along the drying shrinkage cracks for a long time. The cracks continue to expand and deepen, forming a series of roughly parallel ridges and trenches arranged alternately. The ridges are irregular steep walled ridges with a height of about half meters to several meters, and the trenches are 1-2 meters wide. Ridges and trenches are generally tens to hundreds of meters long, extending in the direction of prevailing winds. Trenches are often filled with aeolian sand. This fragmented and negative terrain is most typical in the Yadan region near Lop Nur, Xinjiang, so it is called Yadan landform, also known as wind eroded ridge and trench terrain.