Determination of relationship between sedimentological parameters and morphology of linear sand dunes in north of Ahangaran, east of Iran

Field studies and satellite images confirmed the existence of linear sand dunes in the north of Ahangaran region, located in Zirkouh (southern Khorasan province), east of Iran. In evaluation of sand dunes, totally 21 sand dunes from 5 stations in different geographical locations were studied. The obtained sedimentological evidence revealed that Ahangaran sand dunes can be classified into two simple and composite groups morphologically. Results of sedimentological analysis also indicated a positive correlation between particle size and morphology of dunes; i.e. with changes in sedimentological parameters, the morphology of sand dunes grades from simple to composite forms in central and western part of the studied area. The fine-grained pattern of crest is another characteristic which were introduced for the studied linear sand dunes. The comparison of the sedimentological parameters of these sand dunes with the other places of the world such as Kalahari, Namibia, Australia and Egyptian Sinai indicate that the Ahangaran sand dunes with an average of 2.34φ in grain size is similar to the other regions, but have lower sorting in the range of 0.79 which is more outstanding than the other parts of the world.