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Desert Rock Coatings

  • Chapter
Geomorphology of Desert Environments

Desert landforms are characterized by an abundance of ‘bare’ rock and mineral surfaces. Mountains host widespread exposures of bedrock. Gravel desert pavements cap alluvial terraces and fans. Even sand dunes are themselves composed of rock fragments exposed to the atmosphere without substantive plant cover. This chapter focuses on an irony, that the supposed fundamental bare-rock nature of desert landforms stretches the truth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geographical Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

    Ronald I. Dorn

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  1. Ronald I. Dorn
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  1. Dept. Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield, United Kingdom S10 2TN

    Anthony J. Parsons

  2. Dept. Geography, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA

    Athol D. Abrahams

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Dorn, R.I. (2009). Desert Rock Coatings. In: Parsons, A.J., Abrahams, A.D. (eds) Geomorphology of Desert Environments. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5719-9_7

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