Solving the mystery of booming sand dunes
نویسندگان
چکیده
[1] Desert booming can be heard after a natural slumping event or during a sand avalanche generated by humans sliding down the slip face of a large dune. The sound is remarkable because it is composed of one dominant audible frequency (70 to 105 Hz) plus several higher harmonics. This study challenges earlier reports that the dunes’ frequency is a function of average grain size by demonstrating through extensive field measurements that the booming frequency results from a natural waveguide associated with the dune. The booming frequency is fixed by the depth of the surficial layer of dry loose sand that is sandwiched between two regions of higher compressional body wave velocity. This letter presents measurements of the booming frequencies, compressional wave velocities, depth of surficial layer, along with an analytical prediction of the frequency based on constructive interference of propagating waves generated by avalanching along the dune surface. Citation: Vriend, N. M., M. L. Hunt, R. W. Clayton, C. E. Brennen, K. S. Brantley, and A. Ruiz-Angulo (2007), Solving the mystery of booming sand dunes, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16306, doi:10.1029/2007GL030276.
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Comment on ‘ ‘ Solving the mystery of booming sand dunes ’ ’ by Nathalie
[1] We show here that the standard physical model used by Vriend et al. [2007] to analyse seismograph data, namely a non-dispersive bulk propagation, does not apply to the surface layer of sand dunes. According to several experimental, theoretical and field results, the only possible propagation of sound waves in a dry sand bed under gravity is through an infinite, yet discrete, number of dispe...
متن کاملComment on “Solving the mystery of booming sand dunes”
We show here that the standard physical model used by Vriend et al. to analyse seismograph data, namely a nondispersive bulk propagation, does not apply to the surface layer of sand dunes. According to several experimental, theoretical and field results, the only possible propagation of sound waves in a dry sand bed under gravity is through an infinite, yet discrete, number of dispersive surfac...
متن کاملBooming sand dunes: field measurements
Booming dunes” are large desert sand dunes that make a loud droning or humming noise during an avalanching of sand. The phenomenon has been observed for censturies, yet it remains largely unexplained. This note demonstrates that the booming frequency does not scale with the size of the particle or with the shearing speed of the avalanching sand. Instead, the dune may act as a waveguide with a f...
متن کاملReply to comment by B. Andreotti et al. on ‘‘Solving the mystery of booming sand dunes’’
[1] This reply addresses three main issues raised in the comment of Andreotti et al. [2008]. First, the turning of ray paths in a granular material does not preclude the propagation of body waves and the resonance condition described by Vriend et al. [2007]. The waveguide model still holds in the dune for the observed velocities, even with a velocity increase with depth as implied by Andreotti ...
متن کاملLinear and nonlinear wave propagation in booming sand dunes
Linear and nonlinear wave propagation in booming sand dunes N. M. Vriend,1,a) M. L. Hunt,2 and R. W. Clayton3 1Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom 2Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA 3Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Califo...
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