Yardangs... Of The Mega Persuasion

I really love landforms and the fact that both similar and varied processes can create a suite of similar landforms (e.g. - diamictons represent a wonderful challenge). I just finished reading Goudie, A.S., 2007, Mega-Yardangs: A Global Analsysis. I couldn't find an online PDF version and I'm pretty sure if I post the PDF I can go to Yardang jail... or I might get a nasty email. Regardless of my law abiding behavior, the article provided some wonderful literary enjoyment (not something typical in a peer-reviewed science journal). I'll probably get harassed for that comment.

Goudie essentially provides a global perspective on the distribution, morhphology, and historical documentation of yardangs. I have a particular interest in understanding where our geologic jargon is derived and his explanation of the origin is that yar- is a Turkestani word that translates to ridge or steep bank, without explaining the -dang. DANG. However, I found a very interesting discussion of this word (believe it or not, people other than geologists find this word intriguing enough to research its origins too). The interpretation on that site suggests -dang (or dan) translates to "fall from a steep cliff" and that the original spelling was jardang. Goudie also provides an Iranian? term to describe these regionally extensive ridge and swale landforms - kaluts and two additional French terms - crêtes and couloirs (Fr. = to slide or flow, to strain). That isn't how I use the word couloir... No wonder our students get frustrated with yargon (I mean jargon).

Goudie also provides some wonderful excerpts from Hedin (1903). I'll only quote part of his quote - "They assumed the shapes of lions in ambush, recumbent dragons, inscrutable sphinxes and sleeping dogs." and Bagnold (1939) described yardangs in Egypt as "mud lions." Although I recognize the importance of well-established terminology and descriptive sciences, you have to admit it would incredible fun to write a peer-reviewed journal article that included prose like that! I may have to add a dragon yardang to my list of potential cartoons.

I'll leave you with a nice historical photo of a possible yardang in China, you should know by now how much I like these kind of photos.


EDIT: Thanks to Chris for posting a working link to a full version of Goudie's article.