ABSTRACT
A prime feature of desert geomorphological research over the past century or so has been the rapidity with which ideas have changed, and the dramatic way in which ideas have gone in and out of fashion. This chapter investigates the way in which certain key concepts have changed over this period: role of wind erosion, classification of dune pattern, effectiveness of desert run-off processes, causes of rock disintegration, importance of palaeoclimatic influences, age of major deserts, view of deserts obtained from space, and contribution of applied geomorphology. Although the power of wind as a cause of desert landform development was espoused by many French and German geomorphologists working in South-west and North Africa, it was an American who most powerfully outlined the role of aeolian activity. Angular rock debris, split boulders, tafoni and alveoles, and sheeting structures on bare rock outcrops are among the many phenomena that have prompted geomorphologists to question the causes of rock breakdown in deserts.
